The Christmas Life

The poet, Wendy Cope, conjures a heartwarming image of Christmas in the home. This setting of her comforting poem translates this imagery into a classic Christmas choral sound - a simple, memorable tune, accompanied by mellow, warm harmonies, and a natural lilt as the metre alternates between triple and quadruple time.

In the second verse, which is filled with references to light, each voice part expands, up to a blooming chord on 'shine', and this section features more exploratory harmonic inflection while retaining the original melody. The final verse begins with a return to the opening music in the lower voices, before growing into a richly scored ending.