© Ross Edwards 2015
MIRACLES (2014)
4-part treble and 2-part male choirs
At Christmas 1914, a series of extraordinary events took place along the Western Front. They were to become known collectively as The Christmas Truce. Allied and German soldiers spontaneously laid down their arms, left their trenches and fraternized in No Man’s Land, shaking hands and exchanging gifts. Carols were sung by the Germans with the Allies joining in, and the Germans raised Christmas trees decorated with lanterns above their trenches. One of the carols sung was O Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree), fragments of which punctuate my setting of the mediaeval Christmas text Quem Vidistis, in which shepherds and animals witness the miracle of the newborn in the manger. Such symbols of hope and renewal and the glimpsed possibility of a return to peace and sanity were soon stymied by the respective commanding authorities, safely ensconced some 30 km behind the battle lines, who ordered an immediate return to the slaughter.
To me, the sturdy evergreen fir tree represents faith and hope, and the miraculous birth – any birth is a miracle – a return to simple wonderment.
Miracles is dedicated to the Braden family and friends who commissioned it for Lyn Williams’ Gondwana Choirs – and to the memory of Peter Sculthorpe, who died as I was completing the score.
Ross Edwards
O Tannenbaum…
Quem vidistis, pastores, dicite, annunciate nobis,
in terris quis apparuit?
Natum vidimus et choros angelorum
collaudantes Dominum.
Mariam et Joseph vidimus, in terra stratos supplices
et ratum carum pariter, adorantes humiliter,
gratia Deo qui dedit nobis victoriam
per Jesum Christum salvatorem nostrum.
O magnum mysterium
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum
jacentem in praesepio.
O Tannenbaum…