Christmas Music Spot 1: In The Bleak Midwinter (Gustav Holst version)

This piece is unusual among classic carols in that many of us know what the person who wrote the words looked like, even though not everyone realises the fact.



Christina Rossetti was an exceptionally distinguished poet, and a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in her own right as a writer, but she was also the model for a number of  paintings by her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti one or two by other Pre-Raphaelite artists. This is a drawing of Chrsitina Rossetti by her brother:


She was also the model for the Virgin Mary in his painting of the Annunciation, Ecce Ancilla Domini



"In the Bleak Mid-winter" was originally written as a poem,, but was later set to music as a congregational carol or hymn by Gustav Holst (as in the arrangement above) or as a carol for choir and Soprano/Treble and Tenor/baritone soloists by Darke (as in the following post.)

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