🎵 ❄️ HOLIDAY MUSIC MONTH: In the Bleak Midwinter

It’s rare for a poem written by one author to be successfully set to music at a later date by an unrelated composer, but that was happily the case with the poem “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Christina Rossetti (1830–1894), beautifully converted into one of the most lovely religious carols of the season by composer Gustav Holst (1874–1934). Here it is performed — in candlelit near-darkness — by the choir and congregation of Gloucester Cathedral in Britain:

December is Homeschool Holiday Music Month in the River Houses, and throughout the month we’re sharing an assortment of seasonal favorites in a great variety of styles and genres — classical and modern, sacred and secular, serious and silly — along with a collection of easy educational notes that will let you teach little musical lessons all along the way.

We post this carol today because today is the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere — the astronomical beginning of the season of winter. The winter solstice is “the shortest day of the year,” so it’s also traditionally called midwinter day: the day of the least light and the greatest darkness. (Send your students to your family dictionary to confirm this special meaning.) In your homeschool this midwinter week, why not spend a few minutes introducing your students to Rossetti’s poem, which tells the Christian Nativity story, and to Holst’s magnificent musical setting.

Holst’s music for “In the Bleak Midwinter” has been arranged for many different combinations of singers and instruments. Here’s an appropriately frosty instrumental performance by Norwegian trumpet virtuosa Tine Thing Helseth (pronounced Tina Ting Helsett) and her accompanists Elise Båtnes on violin and Birgitte Volan Håvik on harp:

See if your students can follow along in Rossetti’s text and figure out how to sing it with that musical accompaniment.

In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
A breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

What marvelous musical discoveries have you and your students been making in your homeschool during this delightful Holiday Music Month? 🎄 🎵

❡ Literary lives: The website of the Poetry Foundation includes biographical notes and examples of the work of many important poets (including Christina Rossetti) that are suitable for high school students and homeschool teachers. ✒️

❡ Musical memories: If you’d like to fill your homeschool with some beautiful background sounds during the holidays, why not tune in to the 24-hour Holiday Channel from WQXR, the famous classical music radio station in New York City. “Enjoy the sounds of orchestras, choirs, brass ensembles and more as we celebrate the sacred and secular sounds of the season.” I have it on as background music almost every day at this time of year. Won’t you join me? 📻

❡ Olden times and ancient rhymes: What did the Christmas season sound like a hundred years ago and more? Find out from this wonderful collection of historic recordings of American Christmas music, brought together by the Library of Congress. 🎵

❡ Lift every voice: This is one of our occasional posts on Homeschool Arts & Music. Add your name to our weekly mailing list and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 📫

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓

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❡ Join us! The aim of the River Houses project is to create a network of friendly local homeschool support groups — local chapters that we call “Houses.” Our first at-large chapter, Headwaters House, is now forming and is open to homeschoolers everywhere. Find out how to become one of our founding members on the Headwaters House membership page. 🏡