The Tenth Day of Christmas

On the ninth day of Christmas, the parish choir shares Gustav Holst's haunting carol "Lullay my liking." Featuring soloists Loretta Guarino Reid, Catharine Eastman, Jo Darius, and Arunima Kohli.

Born to a working-class musical family in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, the English composer Gustav Holst knew from a young age that music would be his calling. After studying at the Royal College of Music, Holst earned a living as an orchestral trombonist and music teacher while composing on the side. Best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, he also left a rich oeuvre of choral music drawing on texts as varied as the Rig Veda and Walt Whitman. The carol Lullay my liking sets a 15th-century English lyric found in a manuscript now in the British Library. A group of soloists narrates the scene of the Nativity, while the full choir sings a gently rocking lullaby to the baby Jesus.