Tuesday, September 22, 2009

This week's work

Re: THE CHERRY TREE CAROL:
I'm totally intrigued about your observation in "The Cherry Tree Carol" that cutting the last verse doesn't give Joseph a chance for "redemption!" While this is far from a religion class (we're performing artists more than we're about making a religious statement), coherence is important when performing a choral work! I'm quite serious when I allege that redemption may be found (1) in Joseph witnessing the miracle of the cherry tree in the penultimate verse, and (2) the closing E Major chord, coming unprepared from a verse in G Major, may be "redemptive" in its own right!

But I'm open to thoughts on this!
FYI here's some background on this carol that I cribbed from a web source, just for your delectation:

Bradley notes that multiple theories exists concerning the symbolism of the carol. He writes, "Some folklorists point to the widespread use in folklore of the gift of a cherry, or similar fruit carrying its own seed, as a divine authentication of human fertility." He also notes the relationship between the eating of the fruit by Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the eating of cherries by Mary whose son would erase the transgression. He adds that some versions have Mary and Joseph walking through a garden, rather than an orchard, reinforcing the motif of the Garden of Eden.

It has also been noted that the apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, Chapter 20, has a story that during their flight into Egypt, Mary sits beneath a palm tree and desires its dates, but is unable to reach them. Joseph is unable to climb the tree, but when Jesus intervenes, the tree bows down to give Mary the fruit.

Most versions likewise follow this pattern: when Joseph refuses to retrieve the fruit of the tree for Mary, Jesus intervenes from the womb and the tree bows down to deliver the fruit to the Virgin Mary. There are two notable exceptions. In one version of Joseph Was An Old Man, it is Joseph who commands the tree to bow to Mary (and it does!). More astonishingly, in Joseph Were A Young Man, it is the Lord Himself who issues the command. You can be certain of the result.

Ian Bradley also mentions a carol collected in the United States, but likely of English origin, titled The Apple Tree, which he cites in part:

This beauty doth all things excel,
By faith I know but ne'er can tell,
The glory which I now can see,
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

Compare this longer version: Jesus Christ The Apple Tree.

In their notes concerning When Righteous Joseph Wedded Was, the editors of The New Oxford Book of Carols noted that that carol was one of several "doubting Joseph" carols, including The Cherry Tree Carols, Joseph Being An Aged Man, Joseph Being An Old Man Truly, and Joseph Was An Old Man. See Keyte and Parrott, eds., The New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), Carol #129, pp. 446-8.

The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, Chapter 20:

And it came to pass on the third day of their journey, while they were walking, that the blessed Mary was fatigued by the excessive heat of the sun in the desert; and seeing a palm tree, she said to Joseph: Let me rest a little under the shade of this tree. Joseph therefore made haste, and led her to the palm, and made her come down from her beast. And as the blessed Mary was sitting there, she looked up to the foliage of the palm, and saw it full of fruit, and said to Joseph: I wish it were possible to get some of the fruit of this palm. And Joseph said to her: I wonder that thou sayest this, when thou seest how high the palm tree is; and that thou thinkest of eating of its fruit. I am thinking more of the want of water, because the skins are now empty, and we have none wherewith to refresh ourselves and our cattle. Then the child Jesus, with a joyful countenance, reposing in the bosom of His mother, said to the palm: O tree, bend thy branches, and refresh my mother with thy fruit. And immediately at these words the palm bent its top down to the very feet of the blessed Mary; and they gathered from it fruit, with which they were all refreshed. And after they had gathered all its fruit, it remained bent down, waiting the order to rise from Him who bad commanded it to stoop. Then Jesus said to it: Raise thyself, O palm tree, and be strong, and be the companion of my trees, which are in the paradise of my Father; and open from thy roots a vein of water which has been hid in the earth, and let the waters flow, so that we may be satisfied from thee. And it rose up immediately, and at its root there began to come forth a spring of water exceedingly clear and cool and sparkling. And when they saw the spring of water, they rejoiced with great joy, and were satisfied, themselves and all their cattle and their beasts. Wherefore they gave thanks to God.


(taken from http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/cherry_tree_carol-notes.htm -- VERY well-researched and annotated!)

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