Commissioned by Gaithersburg Community Chorus in Celebration of their 25th Anniversary. Premiered December 8th & 9th, 2012 by Gaithersburg Community Chorus, Gaithersburg, Maryland, Hugh Harvey, director

Overview

Let Us Be Merry is a charming a cappella setting of William Billing’s Judea (from The Singing Master’s Assistant, published 1778 in Boston).

A facsimile of William Billings’ Judea as published in The Singing Master’s Assistant, published in 1778 in Boston.

This version tells the Christmas story in three verses, taken from eight verses found in most versions of this hymn.

A Virgin, Unspotted

A Virgin, unspotted, by Prophets foretold,

Should bring forth a Saviour which now we behold,

To be our Redeemer from death, hell, and sin,

Which Adam’s transgression involved us in.

Then let us be merry, put sorrow away,

Our Saviour Christ Jesus was born on this day.

At Bethlem in Jewry a city there was,

Where Joseph and Mary together did pass,

And there to be taxed with many one mo’,

For Caesar commanded the same should be so.

To teach us humility all this was done,

Then learn we from hence, hautry pride fro to shun.

A manger’s his cradle, who came from above,

The Great God of mercy, of peace, and of love.

Performer Resources

To help choirs prepare, here are several recordings of Let Us Be Merry. Please note that your director will likely choose different tempos, and conduct tempo changes differently than on these recordings. These recordings are not authoritative, but rather are a useful aid for learning notes and for getting a feel for the piece. As always, keep one eye up and follow your director!

Note that in some of these recordings (i.e. the Soprano only, Alto only, etc.), long rests are shortened to about 3 seconds. Also, these recordings are of the most recent revision of this piece (currently D6–look in the lower corner of any page with music and you will see which edition your music is).

Please note that these recordings are protected by copyright—please do not post them to other web sites, and if you wish to link to these recordings, please link to this page, not directly to the MP3 file. If you’ve purchased an adequate number of octavos for your group, you may burn an audio CD with the relevant tracks for your members to use in preparing the music.

For Everyone:

SATB “sung” by the computer

For Sopranos:

Soprano I part only, “sung” by the computer

Soprano II part only, “sung” by the computer

For Altos:

Alto part only, “sung” by the computer

For Tenors:

Tenor part only, “sung” by the computer

For Basses:

Bass part only, “sung” by the computer

Listen to Let Us Be Merry while viewing the perusal score:.