Watts in 1719, and what Mason borrowed

Isaac Watts published this text in 1719 in The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. It is a paraphrase of Psalm 98, about the earth receiving its king, not a narrative of the manger. The Christmas association came later, as congregations chose the text for December. A program note that calls the poem a folk carol erases that history. Say what it is: an eighteenth-century psalm paraphrase that English-speaking churches now sing in Advent and Christmas. The words are public domain. Watts died in 1748.

The tune most choirs mean is Antioch, published by Lowell Mason in 1839. Mason credited an arrangement from Handel. Listeners hear echoes of Messiah — the opening shape is often compared with “Lift up your heads” and with figures from “Comfort ye” — but Antioch is not a Handel movement pasted under Watts. It is Mason’s nineteenth-century tune, built from Handelian gestures. Both the text and Mason’s tune are public domain. A modern choral fanfare written over the same melody is not automatically free to photocopy. Harmonize the tune you have the right to use, and keep later descants out of the folder unless their owner is known.

That history should change the rehearsal, not just the footnote. Watts wrote declaration. Mason wrote a tune that starts with a descending major scale and then hammers repeated notes. The piece can be joyful without being shouted. A choir that only knows the carol from a stadium sing-along will oversing the first four notes and flatten the rest. The director’s job is to put the scale back in tune and to let the repeated notes stay speech-like.

Voice parts on a descending scale

The soprano opens on the tonic and walks down the major scale. In D major that is a bright, exposed line. Every singer thinks they know it, which is why it goes out of tune: the third and the fourth degrees are where amateur sopranos sag, and the leading tone at the top of the next phrase is where they reach. Do not harmonize the entire descent in parallel thirds in the alto. Thirds under a scale are tempting and they produce parallel fifths or octaves with a bass that is also walking. Give the alto a slower shape — hold a chord tone through two melody notes — so the soprano scale has something stable to tune against.

Tenors often answer the soprano with a shorter figure or double the alto at the octave. Doubling at the octave is safe only when the two parts truly move together and no third voice creates a parallel with one of them. If the generated tenor copies the soprano a sixth below for more than a few notes, check the bass. The usual fault in this tune is not a wild dissonance. It is too much similar motion. The ear accepts it in a stadium because nobody is listening to parts. In a church loft the parallels are obvious.

The bass line wants to be strong: tonic and dominant, with an octave leap that feels like a bell. That leap is good when it lands on a chord tone and the other voices are not leaping with it. It is bad when the bass and the soprano both drop an octave into the cadence. Mark every leap in the bass before rehearsal and decide which ones are character and which ones are a draft being lazy. Inner voices should fill the triad. If the tenor and alto leave out the third, the repeated soprano notes sound hollow, and the choir will try to fix the hollowness by singing louder.

Rehearsal for repeated notes and the refrain

Teach the opening scale in unison, slowly, with a light pulse on each step and no accent on the first note beyond a clear start. Then sing it at the tempo of the verse and stop before the repeated notes. Those repeated notes are where choirs rush and where the pitch climbs. Have each section speak the rhythm on one pitch, then sing it, then put the pitches back. If the basses are late on the offbeats, the whole choir will drag the next bar to compensate. Fix the bass rhythm before you polish vowels.

The second half of the tune sequences a short idea upward. Sequences are where tenors overshoot. Rehearse the sequence one step at a time and make the choir sing the same vowel on each repetition so you can hear whether the third is rising in pitch as well as in scale degree. It should rise by the scale, not by excitement. Save the louder dynamic for the last statement, and only if the third is still in tune. A loud, sharp sequence is not more joyful. It is just sharp.

If a congregation will sing the melody with you, thin the parts on the first verse. Unison or melody-plus-bass is easier to follow than a full SATB chord on every eighth. Add the alto and tenor on a middle verse, and keep the last verse full only if the room can still hear the tune. Generate a draft of the whole tune, but be willing to delete inner notes for the verses you will sing with the assembly. A rehearsal track of a thick chord is a poor model for a congregational stanza.

D major, and the case for dropping to C

The catalog reference is D major, two sharps, which is the usual printed key for Antioch and a good match for a confident adult soprano section. The top of the tune sits where a trained voice is comfortable and where a tired volunteer voice starts to yell. C major is the practical alternative when the congregation is singing, when the service already has two high anthems, or when the sopranos are young. C is not a lesser choice. It is the same tune a step lower, with the bass still in a speaking range.

Avoid E-flat unless you have heard the sopranos sing the top note softly and in tune in that key. A step above D feels small on the piano and large in the throat. Do not decide from a recording made by a large festival choir. Decide from the people in front of you. Sing the first phrase in D, then in C, in the empty room, and keep the key in which the third of the scale is easy. Then generate the parts in that key. A last-minute capo-style transpose on the piano, with the choir still reading D, will put the tenors on the wrong accidentals the moment the line leaves the scale.

Questions before the Antioch rehearsal

Other public-domain Christmas carols

• Silent Night
• O Come, All Ye Faithful
• Hark the Herald Angels Sing
• O Little Town of Bethlehem
• The First Noel