Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The Alfred Burt carols

Every Christmas music lover should know about Alfred Burt. Burt is most famous for his 15 carols that he produced as his family Christmas card every year from 1942 until his death in 1954. Eventually, after Burt’s death, the carols came to national prominence and are performed all over the world.

Here is the Salt Lake Vocal Artists singing the most famous of the Alfred Burt carols, “Caroling, Caroling,” and “We’ll Dress this House”:


One Christmas season many years ago, I sung one of Burt's carols and was inspired to work on my own Christmas card carol. Several years later, for Christmas 2001, I sent out “The Ephemeral Carol.” I wrote the music and my sister-in-law Brooke Shirts penned the wonderful lyrics. I haven’t written any Christmas carols since, but I’ve had many chances to perform this one. It’s about how the events and objects of the nativity (the manger straw, the angels' song, Christ’s life on earth) were fleeting, but the work and words of Jesus Christ continued and will continue on. I’m posting it here with a creative commons license. Feel free to download and share. I hope you enjoy it. Happy holidays!


1 comment:

  1. I still have my copy of "The Ephemeral Carol"! I too love the Alfred Burt carols and performed "Caroling, Caroling" and "The Star Carol" this Christmas with my homeschool youth choir. Merry Christmas!

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