About this edition
Christmas Day is Gustav Holst's affectionate 1910 garland of four traditional carols — "Good Christian Men, Rejoice," "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen," "Come, Ye Lofty, Come, Ye Lowly," and "The First Nowell" — woven into a single continuous fantasy for chorus and orchestra. Written to lie within the reach of a capable church or amateur choir, it distills the melodic directness Holst had absorbed while collecting English folk song and editing hymn tunes, yet it rises to a moment of real contrapuntal daring as he sets two of the carols sounding together in a joyous, bell-like peal. In barely ten minutes it has become a favourite of the Christmas choral repertoire for choral societies on both sides of the Atlantic.
This edition reproduces the score issued by Novello & Co. of London in 1910, the year of the work's completion and the form in which it first reached choirs. Novello was then the pre-eminent publisher of English choral music, and its vast catalogue of cantatas and part-songs supplied the network of Victorian and Edwardian choral societies that sustained works like this one. A Novello print from the composer's own lifetime carries the authority of the text as Holst's contemporaries knew and performed it, complete with his indication that organ or pianoforte may stand in for the orchestra.
About this edition:
- Complete full orchestral score
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from a public domain source
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
Because this historic score has entered the public domain, we are glad to bring it back into print for a new generation of performers. We hope it serves conductors, singers, students, and scholars who want this seasonal classic on the stand at an accessible price.
