The Wilfred Heaton Edition –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– A SHEPHERDS' CAROL Christmas Song for unaccompanied mixed voices Words : Anonymous Melody by Wilfred Heaton (The King's Threshold) arranged by Paul Hindmarsh
In 1949, Sheffield bor n composer Wilfred Heaton (1918 - 2000) provided the music fo a Christmas production of W.B.Yeat's play The King's Threshold. It was staged at The Little Theatre by The Settlement Players, an amateur group linked to the Sheffield Educational Settlement. Founded in 1918 at the Y.M.C.A, the Settlement was par t of the Univrsity Settlement movement and ran courses for working people in music and the liberal ar ts under the wardenship of Ar nold Freeman. Heaton enrolled as a student in 1948, but was soon teaching music classes and composing small items for its annual producitons. Freeman was a leading advocate of Anthroposophy espoused by the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. Heaton became closely involved in the work of the Settlement and under Freeman's initial guidance, became a life long follower of the principles of Steiner's Science of the Spirit, as Anthroposophy is also called. Heaton's melody was written in folk song style and was intended to be sung without accompaniment. Its metre and memorable contours lend themselves to choral treatment. My researches for an appropriate seasonal text led me to the centuries old tradition of carol singing in the pubs of Nor th Sheffield and Nor th Derbyshire that still takes place in November and all December each year. These are often referred to as 'The Sheffield Carols'. One of the most popular of them is 'Awake, arise good Christians'. Two published settings from USA have been identified, by W.F. Sherwin (1826-1888) and, with text ascribed to 'Parish Visitor', by F. Schilling. This was published in Carols Old and New (1916), compiled by Rev. Charles, Lewis Hutchins (1838-1920). My arrangement is based on a simple har monisation which is also elaborated to follow the biblical narrative of all six verses published in 1916. I have omitted the refrain which is sometimes sung in the Sheffield version. Paul Hindmarsh, July, 2018
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