Daily Classical Music Post

Victor Hely-Hutchinson: Carol Symphony

The decorations are up, the holiday music is blaring in the shops; there is no mistaking what time of year it is. This December, the Daily Classical Music Post will introduce you to music composed for or inspired by holidays that occur in the month of December. There will be a little something for everyone (I hope)!

Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901-1947) : Carol Symphony (1927)

The British composer Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901–1947) is best known for his Carol Symphony, which was composed in 1927. Carol Symphony is actually four preludes and is based on five different Christmas carols: O Come All Ye Faithful; God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen; The Coventry Carol; The First Nowell; and Here We Come A-Wassailing.

For many years, this enormously popular work that the BBC used for several different programmes during the 1940s and 1950s was only available in a barely legible manuscript. Now there are arrangements for concert band as well as orchestra available.

David Vernier said, “You can treat the material [Christmas carols] in a variety of ways, from the more straightforward yet impressively adroit fantasias on easily recognizable (if often rhythmically or melodically altered) tunes . . . to Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s more deliberate attempt at symphonic style and structure in A Carol Symphony, where he actually incorporates carols such as Adeste fideles, God rest ye merry gentlemen, The Coventry Carol, The first nowell, and Here we come a-wassailing into a legitimate four-movement theme-and-development framework.”

My classical music post for today is Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s Carol Symphony.