For those of you listening to Carols From Kings’ Cambridge on Christmas Eve, you may have heard ‘Out of your sleep’ sung by the choir of Kings. This is one of Robin Nelson’s carols, first published in 1999.
Robin was Director of Music at Marlborough College between 1982 and 2003.
Robin notes that: “‘Out of your Sleep’ was published by Banks Music of York in 1999, dedicated to the Chapel Choir and the chaplain at that time, James Dickie. Then it was taken up by David Hill when he was choirmaster at Winchester Cathedral, performed there and subsequently published by Novello in a Christmas volume called Noel, edited by him.”
As an Advent Carol, many of which tend to be quite sombre and in a ‘minor mode’, ‘Out of your Sleep’, is, as Robin notes “pretty up-tempo and bright”
Robin explains the nature of the carol and what he was looking to create: “The opening organ solo approximates early morning birdsong…a Willow Warbler, maybe a Blackbird or two, suggesting the need to “arise and wake”. (It comes up again in a little interlude).
“The men then sing a repetitive 4-note figure supposedly suggesting ringing bells. The time-signature changes frequently, hopefully creating a sense of animation and anticipation. Also the bell-like figure is set against a contradictory melodic line with a different rhythmic pattern.
“At one point in the 15th C text the words are “Blessed be God this game is begun” and this connects I hope with the playful interchanges between the voices, ending with canonic entries of “that we may sing Nowell, Nowell”