I Saw Three Ships
for choir SATB (2012)
duration: 3’
GRT • 161
score available from
Australian Music Centre
program note
I grew up with the traditional English Christmas carol, I Saw Three Ships, and love it perhaps more than any other. As I was born on Christmas day, it has occurred to me from time to time that I ought to set it. When Michael Leighton Jones asked me earlier this year if I’d be interested in writing a Christmas carol, this was clearly the moment I’d been waiting for. I set just the first verse, but also stole a couple of lines from later verses that appealed. The tune in this setting is often fragmented at a slower tempo (and sometimes completely re-imagined), but appears in its recognisable state toward the end. The setting is written for Michael and the Choir of Trinity College.
I saw three ships come sailing in,
On Christmas day, on Christmas day,
I saw three ships come sailing in,
On Christmas day in the morning.
And all the bells on earth shall ring,
And all the souls on earth shall sing,