The Colours of Christmas
COMPOSER’S NOTE
In 2004, I was commissioned to write a work for an advertising campaign on the UKs’ largest classical music radio station, Classic FM. It has subsequently become a seasonal favourite on the radio station. I then asked my poet brother Andrew to come up with the text for a choral version which, many years later, was recorded by the Voce Chamber Choir for the album, The Nativity.
DURATION
4 minutes
VERSIONS AVAILABLE
- SAB & Piano
- Chamber Orchestra (Strings, Flute, Oboe, Cor Anglais, Horn in F, Trumpet in B flat, Harp, Percussion)
YEAR OF COMPOSITION
2004
PUBLISHER
Novello
SHEET MUSIC
Available from
JW Pepper
Music Room
Music Shop Europe
Take gold for the angel wings
and green for the tree
more gold for the star
that all wise men seek.
Take a rainbow of colours –
take red, green and gold:
in the colours of Christmas
a story is told.
Take silver for the moonlight
silent and still,
and red for the firelight
of shepherds on the hill.
Take a rainbow of colours –
take silver, red and blue:
in the colours of Christmas
the story is made true.
Take blue for the Virgin
so loving and pure,
and gold for the straw
on the dark stable floor.
Take white for the bands
that clothe the new king –
the sweet prince of peace
for all angels sing.
Take gold for the angel wings
and green for the tree
more gold for the star
that all wise men seek.
Take a rainbow of colours –
take red, gold and white,
in the colours of Christmas
all darkness turns to light.
Words: Andrew Hawes (1954- )
