Nine Lessons and Carols
Nine Lessons and Carols, also known as the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, is a service of Christian worship traditionally celebrated on or near Christmas Eve. The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in nine short Bible readings or lessons from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir anthems.
History
Although the tradition of Nine Lessons and Carols is popularly associated with King's College, Cambridge, its origins are attributed to Truro Cathedral in Cornwall. Up to the late 19th century, the singing of Christmas carols was normally performed by singers visiting people's houses, and carols — generally considered to be secular in content — had been excluded from Christian worship. In the Victorian era, the rising popularity of hymnody encouraged church musicians to introduce carols into worship. An 1875 book of carols, Carols for Use in Church During Christmas and Epihany by Richard Chope and Sabine Baring-Gould, was an influential publication. At around this time, the composer and organist John Stainer was compiling a collection, Christmas Carols New and Old, and during Christmas 1878 he introduced carols into the service of Choral Evensong at St Paul's Cathedral in London. Other cathedrals also began to adopt carols at Christmastide that year and the Royal Cornwall Gazette reported that the choir of Truro Cathedral would sing a service of carols at 10:00 pm on Christmas Eve:Two years later, the Right Rev. Edward White Benson, at that time Bishop of Truro, conducted the first formal service of "Nine Lessons and Carols" on Christmas Eve 1880. Benson, concerned at the excessive consumption of alcohol in Cornish pubs during the festive season, sought a means of attracting revellers out of the pubs and into church by offering a religious celebration of Christmas. The idea for a service consisting of Christmas music interspersed with Bible readings was proposed by the succentor of the cathedral, the Rev. George Walpole. The cathedral — a Victorian gothic building — was still under construction, and services were being held in a temporary wooden structure which served as a pro-cathedral. The first Nine Lessons and Carols service took place there at 10:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve and was attended by over 400 people.
Benson's son, A. C. Benson, later recalled:
Bishop Benson was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1883, and the Nine Lessons service began to gain in popularity across the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion. The original liturgy has since been adapted and used by other churches all over the world. Lessons and Carols most often occur in Anglican churches. However, numerous Christian denominations have adopted the service, or a variation of it, as part of their Christmas celebrations. In the UK, the service has become the standard format for school carol services.
In 1916, a service of Nine Lessons and Carols was held at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island; the institution celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Lessons and Carols in 2016.
Notably in 1918, the Rev. Eric Milner-White the new Dean of King's College, Cambridge, introduced the service to the college chapel, taking advantage of the established choral tradition of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. It proved highly successful, and began an annual tradition — albeit with some alterations to Benson's original format from 1919 onwards. The BBC began to broadcast the service on radio from 1928 and on television from 1954, establishing Carols from King's as the most popular and widely recognised presentation of the service.
In the United States, the Lessons and Carols tradition spread to other US institutions. In 1928, organist and choirmaster Twining Lynes, introduced the service to Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts after being inspired by services in England.
In December 2013, Truro Cathedral staged a reconstruction of Bishop Benson's original 1880 Nine Lessons with Carols Service which was attended by a congregation of over 1,500 people.
Service at King's College, Cambridge
The first Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge, was held on Christmas Eve in 1918. During World War I the dean, Eric Milner-White, had served as army chaplain in the 7th Infantry Division and he was concerned that the distress of the "Great War" had hardened attitudes against religion. Taking advantage of the established choral tradition of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, he introduced Benson's carol service to King's as a means of attracting people back to Christian worship. The first Nine Lessons service in King's College Chapel was held on Christmas Eve, 1918, directed by Arthur Henry Mann who was the organist from 1876 to 1929.The King's College service was immensely successful, and the following year Milner-White made some changes to Benson's original format, notably introducing the tradition of opening the service with a solo treble singing "Once in Royal David's City". This was then followed by a bidding prayer penned by Milner-White himself, and re-ordering the lessons. The choir had 16 trebles as specified in statutes laid down by Henry VI, and until 1927 the men's voices were provided by choral scholars and lay clerks. Today, 14 undergraduates from the choir sing the men's parts.
The popularity of the service was established when the service began to be broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1928, and, except for 1930, has been broadcast every year since. During the 1930s the service reached a worldwide audience when the BBC began broadcasting the service on its Overseas Service. Even throughout the Second World War, despite the stained glass having been removed from the Chapel and the lack of heating, the broadcasts continued. For security reasons, the name "King's" was not mentioned during wartime broadcasts.
Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College was first televised by BBC Television in 1954, conducted by the director of music, Boris Ord.
by Peter Paul Rubens, which hangs behind the altar in King's College Chapel, Cambridge
Since the Second World War, it has been estimated that each year there are millions of listeners worldwide who listen to the service live on the BBC World Service. Domestically, the service is broadcast live on BBC Radio 4, and a recorded broadcast is made on Christmas Day on BBC Radio 3. In the US, a 1954 service was put into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2008. The broadcast has been heard live on public radio stations affiliated with American Public Media since 1979, and most stations broadcast a repeat on Christmas Day. Since 1963, the service has been periodically filmed for television broadcast in the UK. Presently, each year a programme entitled Carols from King's'' is pre-recorded in early or mid-December then shown on Christmas Eve in the UK on BBC Two and BBC Four. The programme is weighted more heavily in favour of carols sung by the choir, with only seven readings in total, not all of which are from the Bible.
Order of service
The format of the first Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols did not differ substantially from the one known at King's College, Cambridge today. The order of the lessons was revised in 1919, and since that time the service has always begun with the hymn "Once in Royal David's City". Today the first verse is sung unaccompanied by a solo boy chorister. To avoid putting him under undue stress, the chorister is not told that he will be singing the solo until immediately before the service is to begin.The Nine Lessons, which are the same every year, are read by representatives of the college and of the City of Cambridge from the 1611 Authorized King James Version of the Bible. The singing is divided into "carols" which are sung by the choir and "hymns" sung by the choir and congregation. Some services have also included anthems between the carols and hymns, such as a performance of "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come" in 2004. Since 1982, Director of Music Stephen Cleobury has commissioned a new carol each year on behalf of the College for the Choir. The carols vary from year to year, although some music is repeated. The service ends with the hymn "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". The following is from the service in 2008.
- Organ preludes
- Bidding Prayer
- First Lesson from Genesis 3: 8-19
- Second Lesson from Genesis 22: 15-18
- Third Lesson from Isaiah 9: 2; 6-7
Commissioned carols and organ postludes
| Year | Titles | Authors |
| 1983 | In Wintertime | Words: Betty Askwith Music: Lennox Berkeley |
| 1984 | One Star, at Last | Words: George Mackay Brown Music: Peter Maxwell Davies |
| 1985 | Illuminare Jerusalem | Words: adapted from the Bannatyne manuscript in. Music: Judith Weir |
| 1986 | Nowel, Nowel, Holly Dark | Words: Walter de la Mare Music: Richard Rodney Bennett |
| 1987 | What Sweeter Music Can We Bring | Words: Robert Herrick Music: John Rutter |
| 1988 | The Birthday of thy King | Words: After Henry Vaughan Music: Peter Sculthorpe |
| 1989 | Carol of St. Steven | Words: Adapted from W. Sandys' Christmas Carols Music: Alexander Goehr |
| 1990 | Богородице Дево, радуйся | Words: the Orthodox Liturgy Music: Arvo Pärt |
| 1991 | A Gathering | Words: Lancelot Andrewes Music: John Casken |
| 1992 | Swetë Jesu | Words: Anonymous, 13th Century Music: Nicholas Maw |
| 1993 | Christo Paremus Cantica | Words: Anonymous, 15th Century Music: Diana Burrell |
| 1994 | The Angels | Words: John V. Taylor Music: Jonathan Harvey |
| 1995 | Seinte Marie Moder Milde | Words: From a 13th-century manuscript in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge Music: James MacMillan |
| 1996 | Pilgrim Jesus | Words: Kevin Crossley-Holland Music: Stephen Paulus |
| 1997 | The Fayrfax Carol | Words: Early Tudor, anonymous Music: Thomas Adès |
| 1998 | Winter Solstice Carol | English words and music: Giles Swayne Latin words: Magnificat antiphon for Christmas Day |
| 1999 | On Christmas Day to My Heart | Words: Clement Paman Music: Richard Rodney Bennett |
| 2000 | The Three Kings | Words: The Three Kings by Dorothy L. Sayers Music: Jonathan Dove |
| 2001 | Spring in Winter | Words: C. Smart, from Hymn &c: The Nativity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Music: John Woolrich |
| 2002 | The Angel Gabriel Descended to a Virgin | Words: 15th-17th century Music: Robin Holloway |
| 2003 | The Gleam | Words: Stephen Plaice Music: Harrison Birtwistle |
| 2004 | God would be born in thee | Words: Angelus Silesius Music: Judith Bingham |
| 2005 | Carol: Away in a Manger | Words: 19th century Music: John Tavener |
| 2005 | Organ postlude: Improvisation on "Adeste Fideles" | Francis Pott |
| 2006 | Carol: Misere' Nobis | Words: a version of a medieval English carol Music: Mark-Anthony Turnage |
| 2006 | Organ postlude: Recessional on "In the Bleak Midwinter" | Lionel Steuart Fothringham |
| 2007 | Carol: Noël | Words: Richard Watson Gilder Music: Brett Dean |
| 2007 | Organ postlude: Sortie on "In Dulci Jubilo" | David Briggs |
| 2008 | Mary | Words: Bertolt Brecht, translated by Michael Hamburger Music: Dominic Muldowney |
| 2009 | The Christ Child | Words: GK Chesterton Music: Gabriel Jackson |
| 2010 | Christmas Carol | Words: Einojuhani Rautavaara, translated by Hanni-Mari & Christopher Latham Music: Einojuhani Rautavaara |
| 2011 | Christmas hath a darkness | Words: Christina Rossetti Music: Tansy Davies |
| 2012 | Ring Out, Wild Bells | Words: Alfred, Lord Tennyson Music: Carl Vine |
| 2013 | Hear the voice of the Bard | Words: William Blake Music: Thea Musgrave |
| 2014 | De Virgine Maria | Words: 12th-century Latin, translated by Ronald Knox Music: Carl Rütti |
| 2015 | The Flight | Words: George Szirtes Music: Richard Causton |
| 2016 | This Endernight | Words: Anonymous c1400 Music: Michael Berkeley |
| 2017 | Carol Eliseus | Words: Welsh Music: Huw Watkins |
| 2018 | O Mercy Divine | Words: Charles Wesley Music: Judith Weir |
| 2019 | The Angel Gabriel | Words: Sabine Baring-Gould Music: Philip Moore |