The Coventry Carol

The Coventry Carol is a Christmas carol dating from the 16th Century. The carol was performed in Coventry as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew. The carol refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod orders all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed. The lyrics of this haunting carol represent a mother’s lament for her doomed child.  The carol provides a well-known example of a Picardy third.

World Parts are provided with this score when purchased as a PDF download.  Instrumentation for standard and a number of alternate parts makes this playable by almost any 5 piece brass ensemble:

Part 1 – Bb Trumpet (alt. C Trumpet)

Part 2 – Bb Trumpet (alt. C Trumpet)

Part 3 – F Horn (alt. Eb Horn, Bb Baritone T.C.)

Part 4 – Trombone B.C. (alt. Bb Trombone T.C.)

Part 5 – Tuba B.C. (alt. Eb Bass T.C., Bb Bass T.C)

To order the Gig Ready Brass Quintet Library, Volume V: Holiday #2, which contains this arrangement and 24 others, click here.