Beginner Bass at Christmas: 16 Christmas Carols for Beginner Double Bass & Piano (arr. Heyes)

About the Book

Beginner Bass at Christmas is a collection of sixteen magical and evocative Christmas carols from around the world, both well-known and less familiar. Arranged with the beginner bassist in mind, the solo part remains in bass clef throughout, going no higher than D in 3rd position on the G string, and some carols are entirely in 1st position.

The accompaniments are colourful and engaging and are ideal as concert repertoire, playable with more than one bassist, or simply to enjoy playing with friends. Each carol is short and concise and the use of repeats and new dynamics or bowings can help to add more variety and contrast. Happy Christmas to Everyone

Arranged & edited by David Heyes

Table of Contents

1. The Holly and the Ivy can be traced back to the early 19th-century, but the carol known today was collected in 1909 by Cecil Sharp, an English folk song collector, in Chipping Campden (Gloucestershire, UK), and sung to him by Mary Clayton.

2. Good King Wenceslas combines the words of English hymn writer John Mason Neale in 1853 with a 13th-century spring carol called Tempus adest floridum (Eastertime is Come). The text tells the story of a Bohemian king who goes on a journey, braving harsh winter weather, to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of St. Stephen (26 December).

3. What Child Is This? has words from 1865 by William Chatterton Dix (1837-1898), an English writer of hymns and carols, set to the tune of Greensleeves. It was published in 1871and it is believed that John Stainer (1840-1901) harmonised the melody.

4. Carol of the Bells is a popular Christmas carol, based on the Ukrainian New Year’s song ‘Shchedryk’ and written by composer Mykola Leontovych (1877-1921). The music is based on a four note ostinato, which the composer found in a traditional Ukrainian folk music anthology, and was first performed by students at Kyiv University in December 1916, receiving its first European performances in 1919.

5. Away in a Manger was first published in the 19th-century and the two most famous settings are by James Ramsey Murray (1887) and William J. Kirkpatrick (1895). Kirkpatrick’s version is the most well-known in Europe and was published in his 1895 collection ‘Around the World with Christmas’, aimed at school choirs. Although long thought to have been written by Martin Luther, both settings are entirely American.

6. God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen is an English traditional Christmas carol. It possibly dates back to the 1650s and the first printed edition dates from c.1760. Over the years it has been recorded by many singers including Bing Crosby, Garth Brooks, Annie Lennox and the cast of Glee.

7. The First Nowell is a traditional English carol with Cornish origins, dating from the 1820s. There are different lyrics in various editions but this remains one of the most popular Christmas carols to the present day.

8. Once in Royal David’s City is originally a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895) and was set to music by Henry John Gauntlett (1805-1876), organist at a number of London churches. He edited many hymnbooks and wrote more than a thousand hymn tunes, and his setting of Once in Royal David’s City is his most famous.

9. Coventry Carol dates back to the 16th-century and was performed as part of a nativity play, one of the Coventry Mystery Plays originally performed by the city’s guilds. The oldest known text dates from 1534 and the oldest known setting of the melody dates from 1591.

10. All This Night Bright Angels Sing is a poem by William Austin, most famously set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan, and this version by J.S.B. Hodges (1830-1915) was first published in New York in1908 in a collection of ‘Christmas Carols & Hymns for Children’. Hodges was born in Bristol and emigrated to Baltimore (USA) in 1845.

11. Silent Night was composed in 1818 by Franz Gruber (1787-1863), to words by Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), and first performed on Christmas Eve at the Nikolauskirche in Oberndorf (Austria). River flooding had probably damaged the church organ and the premiere was performed by voices with guitar accompaniment.

12. In the Bleak Midwinter is one of the most popular Christmas carols and is a perfect partnership between poet (Christina Rossetti) and composer (Gustav Holst). Composed in 1906 for The English Hymnal, setting his own hymn tune Cranham, Holst created a carol which is timeless, with its simple and beautiful melody and evocative harmonies.

13. The Cherry Tree Carol was collected and edited by Alice E. Gillington, published in 1910, and is based on a Surrey Traveller’s Carol. Each Christmas the traveller children would sing this carol and others at every door in the villages of the Surrey commons. Other versions of this carol were collected in different parts of Britain.

14. O Come All Ye Faithful is also known as Adeste Fideles and has been attributed to many authors. This version was arranged by Edward Francis Rimbault (1816-1876) was included in his ‘A Collection of Old Christmas Carols’, featuring 33 carols. The tune is attributed to John Francis Wade, first published in 1751.

15. Rocking Carol is a popular Czech traditional carol and is particularly known as ‘Little Jesus, Sweetly Sleep’ with English words translated by Percy Dearmer. The original carol was published in Czechoslovakia a century ago and is a form of a lullaby with a gently rocking accompaniment.

16. Joy to the World has words by the English minister and hymnist Isaac Watts, dating from 1819, with music by the American composer Lowell Mason (1792-1872). It is one of the most joyful and jubilant carols in the repertoire today and is loved and performed the world over.