Advent Carol Service: St John’s College Cambridge 1981 (George Guest)

Live BBC radio broadcast from the chapel of St John’s College Cambridge, 29 November 1981. This is the very first live broadcast of the Advent Carol Service from St.John's College Chapel, on Advent Sunday, 29th November, 1981. The choir was directed by George Guest, and the organ students were Adrian Lucas and Andrew Lumsden.

As the BBC's Music Adviser to the Head of Religious Broadcasting and producer of the programme, Barry Rose, together with Canon Colin Semper (then Head of Religious Broadcasting) and Ian McIntyre (then Controller of Radio 3 and a former graduate of St. John's) instigated what has now become the annual broadcast.

Barry Rose recalls: “On this first occasion, the Chapel was jam-packed with a huge congregation (George Guest even rehearsed them in their hymn-singing before we went on air), and since it was the first time it had been broadcast, we asked the Dean of Chapel, the Reverend Dr. Andrew Macintosh, to introduce the Service and set it in context, before the choir sang the opening Advent Prose in the Lady Chapel.”

1. The Advent Prose (“Rorate caeli” Mode i)
2. Hymn: Hail to the Lord’s anointed (“Crüger”)
3. Syon, at thy shining gates (G R Woodward, arr George Guest)
4. A tender shoot (Otto Goldschmidt)
5. There is no rose (John Joubert)
6. Jesus Christ the apple tree (Elizabeth Poston)
7. Hymn: Lo, he comes with clouds descending (“Helmsley”)
8. King Jesus hath a garden (Dutch melody, arr Charles Wood)
9. The Linden Tree Carol (German melody, arr Reginald Jacques)
10. Hymn: O come, O come, Emmanuel (“Veni Emmanuel”)
11. Sans Day Carol (John Rutter)
12. Ding, dong, merrily on high (16th century French, arr Malcolm Williamson)
13. Magnificat in G (Herbert Sumsion)
14. Break forth, O beauteous, heavenly light (Johann Sebastian Bach)
15. Hymn: O come, all ye faithful (“Adeste fidelis”)