December 10

Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming 

performed by The Vasari Singers

 DET är en ros utsprungen av Jesse rotoch stam. 

Av fädren ren besjungen den står i tiden fram,

En blomma skär och blid,

Mitt i den kalla vinter i midnatts mörka tid. 

 Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung! 

Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung. 

It came a floweret bright amid the cold of winter,

When half spent was the night. 

 This German traditional carol, set to an anonymous verse, was first published in the Speyer Hymnal in Cologne in 1599.  The version here today was commissioned by The Choir of King's College Cambridge, and was first performed at their "Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" in 2009.  The music was composed by Michael Praetorius, and this choral arrangement was composed by Jan Sandström.   The anonymous verse was translated

 into Swedish by Thelka Knös, and into English by Theodore Baker.