Description

The Huron Carol (‘Jesous Ahatonhia’) is a fondly remembered traditional
carol from my childhood in Canada. I sang it many times as a soloist at
Christmas Eve Mass in our small-town church, and it became permanently
inscribed in my memory. The tune, by Father Jean de Brébeuf, an early
missionary to the colony of New France, is based on a French folk song.
Although Brébeuf wrote the original text in the Huron language in 1642, I
opted for the three verses of the English version I learned as a boy.
This setting keeps the simple, strophic tune in the foreground, while
varying the harmonic background for each verse, building on each
repetition of the angel chorus to a climax “in excelsis gloria.”

chx

Vocal and Choral Works

En

Trad.

Written for the Audite Chamber Choir in 2013.

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