Personent Hodie

Conductor Notes:

This is the fourth movement of Rutter’s “Dancing Day” suite for SSA and harp or piano. The whole suite is very effective, and we have frequently pulled out single movements over the years. Personent Hodie is straightforward for the choir, making effective use of unison, 2-part, and SSA. It’s unfortunate that this is not published as a separate octavo, because the complete set is expensive. A word of caution: harpists have told me that the Dancing Day accompaniment is much more difficult than Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols”.

English translation:

Let children’s voices resound today,
Merrily praising him who has been born,
Sent by almighty God,
And brought forth from a virgin’s womb.

He was born into the world, wrapped in swaddling clothes,
And placed in the manger in a cattle shed,
The Lord of the heavens,
The Prince who destroyed the spoils of hell.

Three wise men appeared; they offered gifts
And asked for a boy-child, following a star;
They worshipped him,
Offering him gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Let all the clerics, and likewise the boys,
Sing like the angels: “You have come to the world;
Therefore I pour out praises to you:
Glory to God in the highest!”