Christmas Music In the Bleak Midwinter Christmas carols

Christmas Music In the Bleak Midwinter Christmas carols

"In the Bleak Midwinter" is a Christmas carol based on a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti. The poem was published, under the title "A Christmas Carol", in the January 1872 issue of Scribner's Monthly.[1]

The poem first appeared set to music in The English Hymnal in 1906 with a setting by Gustav Holst.

Harold Darke's anthem setting of 1911 is more complex and was named the best Christmas carol in a poll of some of the world's leading choirmasters and choral experts in 2008

In the bleak mid-winter
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 mid-winter
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 mid-winter
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 down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.

Angels and Archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But only His Mother
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.

A version by American jazz singer Erin Bode is on her 2008 recording of Christmas music, A Cold December Night.[11]

The song was used as part of the main plot in the 2010 Doctor Who Christmas special, "A Christmas Carol", as sung by Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins.[12]

In the BBC TV drama series Peaky Blinders, mobster and war veteran Thomas Shelby mumbles 'in the bleak midwinter' to himself before he shoots his war-ravaged battle buddy, Danny. He also murmurs the phrase to himself as his last words before his near-executions, in the series two finale episode and series four opening episode. The poem and the phrase were popular among soldiers of the First World War.[13]