The Twelve Days of Christmas

Christmas is traditionally the time for giving and the Linden Singers of Hawke’s Bay have recognised this by calling their Christmas concert “The twelve days of Christmas” or “A partridge in a pear tree just started the chaos!”.

There are dozens of versions of this popular Christmas song ranging from the serious to the banal. The Singers have chosen to use a humorous version which consists of a series of letters written by the fictitious Agnes McCallister. She is the recipient of all of the gifts sent to her by her lover, a loveable but soft headed lad called John. The letters, one of which is read between each verse of the song, have a loving and grateful tone whilst the gifts are small and sensible but change gradually as the gifts become larger and more bizarre. Glen Sutherland plays the role of Agnes in this amusing presentation.

Guest artists for the concert are the choir from Frimley School. They will sing three Christmas songs: “A Starry Night” by Joy Webb, “Te Harinui” by Willow Macky and “Calypso Carol” by Michael Perry.

The rest of the programme is a mix of carols traditional and new, some well known and some less so. Included in the programme are two Christmas Spirituals – “De Virgin Mary had a baby boy” arranged by Sir Malcolm Sargent and “Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born” arranged by Ralph Hunter. Amongst the more traditional carols are “Ding dong! merrily on high”, “Rocking” and “We wish you a merry Christmas”.

New Zealand composers are represented by “I sing of a maiden”, a lovely carol composed by Richard Madden of Dunedin with several 20th century carols such as the “Shepherd’s Pipe Carol” by John Rutter and the stirring “Alleluya, a new work is come on hand” by Peter Wishart. As usual the audience will be invited to join the choir in singing several of the best loved Christmas Carols.

The choir will be accompanied by Elizabeth Curtis on both piano and organ. As usual the choir will be directed by Basil Brooker.