Video Information

• Choir: Fremont Presbyterian Choir
• Piece: God Bless the Master-Folk Songs of the Four Seasons - Winter by Ralph Vaughan Williams, SATB & orch.
• Composer:  Vaughan Williams
• Arranger:  John Whittaker
• Conductor:  Rachel Jackson
• Voices:  SATB
• Sheet Music:   MJWhittaker@Googlemail.co...  
• Genres: Classical, Christmas
• Rachel L. Jackson, Minister of Music. conducts the Fremont Presbyterian Choir and Orchestra. Sacramento, California, December 10, 2022.
  Arranged for SATB by John Whittaker
  
  From FOLKSONGS OF THE FOUR SEASONS - IV. WINTER (1949, arr. ...  moreRachel L. Jackson, Minister of Music. conducts the Fremont Presbyterian Choir and Orchestra. Sacramento, California, December 10, 2022.
  Arranged for SATB by John Whittaker
  
  From FOLKSONGS OF THE FOUR SEASONS - IV. WINTER (1949, arr. 2020)
  CELEBRATING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF RALPH VAUGHN WILLIAMS
  Instructed by the greats including Sir Charles Villiers Stanford and friend Gustav Holtz, Composer Ralph Vaughn Williams was one of the first to gather folk songs and carols from around the countryside of England in the early 20th century. He found his identity as a national composer with his synthesis of folk music, classical training and the experience gained as Musical Editor of the English Hymnal. Composed over the span of four decades culminating in 1949, Folksongs of the Four Seasons is a cantata of 16 songs commissioned by The Women’s Institute; four for each season. The Winter section take the listener on a journey through the Christmas practices of the working poor in Victorian England.
  
  Arranger and composer John Whittaker hails from Reading, UK. Now a retired teacher and long-time active member of The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, Whittaker wrote the first SATB arrangement of The Folk Songs of the Four Seasons as he felt that it is a great work which is seldom performed because of its original scoring for upper voices and orchestra only. This arrangement has been endorsed by the Vaughan Williams Society and Oxford University Press. His compositions can be found at john-whittaker.org.
  
  God Bless the Master
  This poem would often be seen on garlands and English broadsides (bulletins) in the middle of the nineteenth century. It became a popular carol of the era due to its synthesis of pious hymn qualities with the hope of fortune of the wassail songs.
  
  God bless the Master of this house
  with happiness beside;
  Where'er his body rides or walks,
  Lord Jesus be his guide.
  
  God bless ...    less