Susanni
(A Little Child There is Ybore)
SATB and piano or vibraphone
5:45 approx.
*winner of the 2017 Indianapolis Symphonic Choir Christmas Carol Commission Competition.
Susanni translates to an old German word for lullaby. It stems from the root word sausen (which has since evolved to säuseln) meaning “to whisper” or “to murmur.” This meaning inspired my setting of Eia, Eia, Susanni as lilting, textural, intoned whispers. This particular phrase comes from the old German carol Von Himmel hoch o Engel kommt (words credited to Martin Luther). The editors of the Oxford Book of Carols date the English translation (A Little Child There Is Ybore) to the 1393 Ashmolean manuscript.
The piece comes in a theme and variations form, where each strophic reiteration is slightly altered to serve the natural inflections of the text. Susanni (A Little Child There is Ybore) is the winner of the 2017 Indianapolis Symphonic Choir Christmas Carol Commission Competition.
SUSANNI (A LITTLE CHILD THERE IS YBORE)
Trad. Old English Christmas
A little child there is ybore,
Eia, Eia, susanni, susanni, susanni,
Ysprungen out of Jesse’s more,
Alleluia, Alleluia,
To save us all that were forlore.
Jesus that is so full of might
Eia, Eia, susanni, susanni, susanni,
Ybore he was about midnight;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
The angels sung with all their might.
Jesus is that child’s name,
Eia, Eia, susanni, susanni, susanni,
A maid and mother is his dame,
Alleluia, Alleluia,
And so our sorrow is turned to game.
It fell upon the high midnight,
Eia, Eia, susanni, susanni, susanni,
The stars they shone both fair and bright,
Alleluia, Alleluia,
The angels sang with all their might.
Three kings there came with their presents
Eia, Eia, susanni, susanni, susanni,
Of myrrh and gold and frankincense,
Alleluia, Alleluia,
As clerkes sing in their sequence.
Now sit we down upon our knee,
Eia, Eia, susanni, susanni, susanni,
And pray that child that is so free:
Alleluia, Alleluia,
And with good heart- now sing we.