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OCWC rehearsing in December 2018

Something old, something new At right, Claire and Shauna perform one of several versions of the medieval “Cherry Tree Carol,” with its lilting melody and its cheeky text: Newly expectant father Joseph replies to his wife’s request for cherries by suggesting, rather rudely, that whoever got her pregnant should be the one to pick her fruit...and to his amazement, that’s what happens, though hardly in the way he expects.

On the following page, Sarah, Shauna, and Janelle perform “Noël Nouvelet,” a 15th-century French carol that marvels throughout at the novelty of the Christmas story.

Following that, Sarah directs a chamber ensemble in an arrangement of “Nova, Nova,” one of the most famous medieval Christmas tunes. The title literally means “News, news,” and the next line—“Ave fit ex Eva”—is a play on words: Since “ave” (“hail,” as in “hail Mary”) is a palindrome of “Eva” (“Eve”), the text means that out of the Biblical story of Eve has come the new, more joyous story of Mary.

Trad. English: The Cherry Tree Carol Claire Stoneman, soprano • Shauna McFadden, guitar Filmed and edited by Nathan Staph and Michael Kroh

Joseph was an old man, an old man was he, And Joseph married Mary, the Queen of Galilee.

Mary and Joseph together did go, And there they saw a cherry tree, both red, white and green.

Then up speaks Mary, so meek and so mild: “O gather me cherries, Joseph, for I am with child.”

Then up speaks Joseph, with his words so unkind: “Let them gather thee cherries that brought thee with child.”

Then up speaks the little child in his own mother’s womb: “Bow down, you sweet cherry tree, and give my mother some.”

Then the top spray of the cherry tree bowed down to her knee: “And now you see, Joseph, there are cherries for me.”