A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, Christmas Eve

[TheTecknician]

An early reminder of this on Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock. BBC Radio 4.

'And with the time a little after 3 o'clock, we now go live to the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge for a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols...'

Love it!

Truly the beginning of Christmas, that choirboy's first note of "Once In Royal David's City"!

Never fails to bring a lump to my throat.

Imagine the nervous anticipation of all those young lads waiting for the musical director to announce which of them shall be THE soloist, only minutes before the transmission begins... 😮

This is a lovely behind-the-scenes insight you might enjoy?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0001r53

Tomorrow Sunday. 3pm on Radio 4.

I'll be there, 3pm (not 'there' there; in my kitchen peeling potatoes with the radio on 'there').

Why do they only tell them just before it starts?!

This made me smile as all up and down the country others will be joining you

Love it

Thanks

Not religious in the slightest but always listen to this while decorating my big tree (family tradition that it only goes up Christmas Eve). I love the music- it's so evocative.

It is the 1 thing that I never miss, love the Festival of 9 and it calms me down after all the Chrisas madness. DDs school do it so I've already had it for 3 nights already as she is in the choir and it was extra special being there in person for the first time. They even started the procession with Once in Royal! I'm not religious at all but I find something spiritual about the whole service.

Absolutely love it. By longstanding tradition, my daughter and I make mince pies during the service. I make the pastry in advance, I made the mincemeat ages ago, and as the service starts we go into production and Christmas has officially begun.

I think the reason the soloist is only notified as the service starts is because they are all capable of singing the solo so any boy could step up to it, and the choirmaster picks the one who's in best voice on the day. Age may play a part too. Some of them will be singing in the choir for the last time this year, so I imagine they get priority.

Thanks so much for the link to the Radio 4 programme, will listen to that as I peel sprouts a bit later!

Such a nice start to Christmas. I went to the service at York Minster yesterday, and that was lovely, too.

@CampfireZen thanks for the link, just listened - what a lovely programme

I sing in a cathedral choir, and can confirm they often will only tell them just beforehand because the nerves can really get the better of them with that particular solo. It sounds simple but it's incredibly difficult to keep in tune and for a child it's a huge deal because it's such an anticipated part of everyone's Christmas! The pressure is enormous if they know about it too early on 😅

I'm on mat leave so excited to be able to listen for once!

Yes it has always been the start or Christmas for us. Everything calms down from that point and we wind down. As it started Mother used to say, "If we haven't got it by now, we do without it."

I plan the rest of Christmas Eve around it every year.

Always try to get the rest of the family to care about listening - but they don’t …

Three reasons if I remember correctly:-

1. With Winter bugs you never quite know whose voice will be struggling on the day. It would be very upsetting to take it away at the last minute because a boy woke up with a sniffle.
2. Three boys know they are “possibles”. They are all focused on “will I get it” and so never have the fear of “what if I mess it up?”
3. It is really good for the other two and their confidence to know that they are seen as good enough.

Just starting now.

Have settled down to stop and reflect during 9L&C's

Peaceful Christmas wishes to all on MN ❤️

Listening.

Nice. Same time next year?

Wonderful!

And my Christmas cake is cut.

Mince pies made! Lovely service. Merry Christmas, everybody!

I know the radio version is live and the television version is recorded, but I live in France and really miss an Anglican church at Christmas, so the visuals are really important to me. We watched it this evening and I sobbed my way through quite a few pieces - I hadn't scanned the QR code for the order of service, so when one or other of my favourites came on, it caught me unawares. Wonderful.

Love it. It was the point when Christmas really began.
I noticed that both the boy soloist and one of the older chorister soloists( In The Bleak Midwinter) had the same gorgeous auburn hair. Brothers

Too many unfamiliar carols for me personally this year.

@Hedjwitch
Too many unfamiliar carols for me personally this year.
Were there some more complicated arrangements do you think? My word was Elaborate.