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WorksChoral MusicBurt Family Carol SeriesHe Might Have Come from Clouds of Heav'n

He Might Have Come from Clouds of Heav'n

Voicing: SATB a cappella
Text: Abbie Betinis (with lines extracted from a speech by Bates G. Burt)
Duration: 1:45 min.
Premiere: The MPR Carolers, Minnesota Public Radio - November 29, 2002
See the score: PREVIEW THE SCORE (pdf)
Published by: Abbie Betinis Music Co., AB-016-C2.2
Order now: Online order form


LISTEN:

He Might Have Come from Clouds of Heav'n: mp3 and interview, 1.7 MB

Performed by The MPR Carolers (Melissa Morey, Abbie Betinis, Justin Karch, Michael Meyer)


PROGRAM NOTE:

In 1922, Rev. Bates G. Burt, a self-taught musician, began composing Christmas carols and sending them as seasonal greeting cards to his friends, family, and parishioners. In 1942, he passed the job of composing the music to his son, Alfred Burt, a jazz trumpeter who had just received his music degree from the University of Michigan. The father-son team produced five carols together before Bates' death in 1948. Alfred Burt went on to write a total of fifteen Christmas carols, including the popular Caroling, Caroling, and Some Children See Him, made famous originally by the Voices of Jimmy Joyce and now recorded by artists all over the world. Since 2001, Abbie Burt Betinis has been continuing this family tradition begun so long ago by Bates, her great-grandfather.

Each new carol uses a text relating somehow to the Burt family tradition. He Might Have Come from Clouds of Heav'n was inspired by a speech to the Rotary Club which Bates G. Burt delivered in the 1940's.

More information on the Burt Family Carols here.


He Might Have Come from Clouds of Heav'n Poem by Abbie Betinis (with lines extracted from a speech by Bates G. Burt)
He might have come from clouds of heav'n
Heralded down by trumpets bold,
He might have come in pomp and pow'r,
All dressed in finest glitt'ring gold.

      Come, Come, He has come!
      Joining us by humble birth,
      Come, Come, Greet your King!
      Christ the Lord of Heav'n and Earth!

He might have come to city grand,
A crown of jewels upon his head,
But shepherds poor in Bethlehem
Found Jesus in a manger bed,  

      Come, Come, He has come!
      Joining us by humble birth,
      Come, Come, Greet your King!
      Christ the Lord of Heav'n and Earth!

He might have said, "Make known my birth!
Enforce by might what God commands!"
But see he looks from manger low
And opens now his little hands.

      Come, Come, He has come!
      Joining us by humble birth,
      Come, Come, Greet your King!
      Christ the Lord of Heav'n and Earth!


Text © 2002, Abbie Betinis. For permission to reprint this text, please contact the author.

Performed by:

Adult Chorus of St. Paul's Episcopal (Jan Broderson, conductor)
Deviated Septet; Saint Paul, MN
Festival Choir for Music Gettysburg! (Teresa Bower, conductor)
MACxima (Keith Brown, conductor)
Piedmont Chamber Singers (William Osborne, conductor)
The MPR Carolers; Saint Paul, MN
Voces Novae et Antiquae (Robert Ross, conductor)

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