SKU: A0.548507

The First Noel arranged for Viola & Piano with new harmony for the final verse.

Origins

The First Noel is an English Christmas carol. Even more, it was probably written in the late Cornish Renaissance period. While other versions spell the title as Nowell, this is just a colloquial variation. Furthermore, Noel is an older word meaning Christmas. Therefore the First Noel translates as the First Christmas. First of all, Gilbert and Sandy published the earliest version. As a result, this version appears in the Carols Ancient and Modern songbook of 1823. William Sandy edited and arranged the book. Similarly, his partner Davies Gilbert edited and added the familiar extra verses. The First Noel: Viola Version comes with new harmony in final verse for more energy and drive.

Stainer

Organist and composer Sir John Stainer published the most noteworthy customary arrangement in the 1870’s.  Stainer is above all famous for his songbook entitled: Christmas Carols New and Old (1871). This volume served as an important catalyst for reviving the English Christmas carol.  Other famous Stainer arrangements from this book are such titles as What Child Is This, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Good King Wenceslas, and I Saw Three Ships.

Diatonic Function

The melodic structure in the First Noel is uncommon among English folk tunes. It simply repeats one phrase twice then follows a variation refrain. All three phrases of the song end on the mediant scale degree. This is unusual because the diatonic function of the mediant is non-final compared to the more usual tonic or even dominant degrees. Consequently, this gives the song as kind of open-ended feeling – like maybe it never really ends.

Political Context

The Catholic clergy sang carols outside of the church in Latin. After the Protestant Reformation, the reformers thought it would be better for everyone to sing carols. They decided to bring music back to the common folk. So, they translated the lyrics from Latin into common language. Moreover, the Protestants wanted more control over the music in church than what the Vatican allowed. Protestant composers such as William Byrd composed complex polyphonic Christmas music that they called carols. Nonetheless, some famous folk carols were composed in this era. Eminent composers in the nineteenth century began to revise and adapt them. Consequently, they revived the English carol.

 Register for free lifetime updates and revisions at www.jamesguthrie.com

SKU: A0.549328

Duration: ca. 3:00, score: 5 pages, solo part: 1 page, piano part: 2 pages.Very famous song suitable for church, recital or nightclub. I Write the Songs is a popular song written by Bruce Johnston in 1975 and made famous by Barry Manilow. Manilow's version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1976[2] after spending two weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart in December 1975.[3] It won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and was nominated for Record of the Year in 1977.[3] Billboard ranked it as the No. 13 song of 1976.[4]

The original version was recorded by The Captain & Tennille, who worked with Johnston in the early 1970s with The Beach Boys. It appears on their 1975 album, Love Will Keep Us Together. The first release of I Write the Songs as a single was by then teen-idol David Cassidy from his 1975 solo album The Higher They Climb, which was also produced by Bruce Johnston. Cassidy's version reached #11 on the UK Singles Chart in August of that year.[5]

Johnston has stated that, for him, the I in the song is God,[2] and that songs come from the spirit of creativity in all of us. He has said that the song is not about his Beach Boys bandmate Brian Wilson.[6]

Manilow was initially reluctant to record the song, stating in his autobiography Sweet Life: The problem with the song was that if you didn't listen carefully to the lyric, you would think that the singer was singing about himself. It could be misinterpreted as a monumental ego trip.[3] After persuasion by Clive Davis, then president of Arista Records, Manilow recorded the song, and his version of I Write the Songs was the first single taken from the album Tryin' to Get the Feeling. It first charted on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 15, 1975, reaching the top of the chart nine weeks later, on January 17, 1976. Wikipedia