TO THE CRADLE RUN (BASED ON "BRING A TORCH, JEANETTE, ISABELLA")

Music: Traditional French carol
Arrangement: Richard Elliott

Over the years, Richard Elliott’s organ performances have become a much anticipated highlight of The Tabernacle Choir’s Christmas concerts. This year, Elliott created a spirited Christmas fantasia for organ and the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble based on the 17th-century French carol “Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella.” In this carol, the villagers’ enthusiasm to see the baby Jesus is matched by the shepherds, represented through a melodic snippet of William Kirkpatrick’s tune for “Away in a Manger.” 

Later, the visit of the Magi is denoted by the well-known Provençal carol, “March of the Kings.” The image of “running to the cradle” is demonstrated directly in some of the organ’s pedal passages, with the organist’s feet almost literally “sprinting” across the pedalboard. At the conclusion, Elliott ingeniously combines the melodies to create a heightened sense of triumphant Christmas joy.