Songs for the Winter Solstice (2006)

All praise to Thee, my God, this night,
For all the blessings of the light;
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Beneath Thine own almighty wings.

"Tallis' Canon"; music: Thomas Tallis (1505-1585); words: Thomas Ken (1637-1711)

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Skamania County, Washington State, December 2006Mountain peaks obscured by clouds

Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming
from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse's lineage coming,
as those of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright,
amid the cold of winter,
when half spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it,
the Rose I have in mind;
with Mary we behold it,
the Virgin Mother kind.
To show God's love aright,
she bore to men a Savior,
when half spent was the night.

Words: 15th cent. German, trans. Theodore Baker; Music: 'Es Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen', Alte Catholische Geistliche Kirchengesang, 1599; Harmony by Michael Praetorius, 1609

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