El cant dels ocells
The Catalan Christmas carol of the birds who sing to greet the newborn Jesus, for 2 to 4 singers in Catalan. The soprano sings the tune while the alto, tenor and bass hum underneath, on the harmony Lluís Millet wrote for a humming men's choir and printed in 1917. Two verses, unhurried, in F minor.
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About El cant dels ocells
Words: traditional Catalan, as printed by Lluís Millet (1917)
Tune: traditional Catalan, as printed by Lluís Millet (1917)
El cant dels ocells, the song of the birds, is a Catalan Christmas carol in which the birds go singing to celebrate the newborn Jesus; in verse 2 the imperial eagle sings "Jesús es nat per tráurens de pecat", Jesus is born to take us out of sin. The earliest printing of its tune that we have seen is the first song of Cançoner popular (Barcelona, 1903). Lluís Millet, director of the Orfeó Català, printed it in 1917 with his harmony for a solo voice over a men's choir humming with closed mouths, and said it has "una de les melodíes més hermoses de la terra catalana" (one of the most beautiful melodies of the Catalan land). Ours is Millet's harmony, his four humming parts made three, a tone lower, in F minor: a hummed opening and two verses, in Catalan, for 2 to 4 singers.
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