I Saw Three Ships

score available from
Wise Music

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. They gave the premiere performance at Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank, Melbourne on 8 December 2013.

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,