Away in a Manger

Julie Giroux

(Arranged by Julie Giroux)

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General Info

Year: 2012(?)
Duration: c. 5:12
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Music Propria
Cost: Score and Parts - $65.00   |   Score Only - $17.00

Instrumentation

(Needed, please join the WRP if you can help.)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Over the years I have done many arrangements of this Christmas song, but I always kept it on the upbeat, cheerier side. Dennis Fisher, conductor of University of North Texas Symphonic Band, asked me to do a pretty arrangement o it, so I obliged him. The original song has no chorus and uses only three chords, which meant to me that there was going to be an awful lot of composition going into this arrangement. I tried to make it as beautiful ad poignant as the lyrics, and I added a small chorus section.

We hear two full verses, with the first rising to a minor conclusion and the second pushing upwards to a major one. I will admit it made me cry several times while working on it, which I knew it would.

A newborn baby in a manger asleep on the hay--how can that not pull on your heart strings?
I am very happy with the final outcome, but I told Dennis he doesn’t get to make any more
requests unless the original song has at least five chords in it.

-Program Note by arranger

Away in a Manger is a Christmas carol first published in the late nineteenth century and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain, it is one of the most popular carols; a 1996 Gallup Poll ranked it joint second] The two most-common musical settings are by William J. Kirkpatrick (1895) and James R. Murray (1887).

The earliest known publication, in The Myrtle in 1884, ascribed the lyrics to German Protestant reformer Martin Luther, explicitly referencing his 400th birthday (which was in 1883). For many years this attribution continued to be made. However, this attribution appears to be false: the hymn is found nowhere among Luther's works. It has been suggested that the words were written specifically for Luther's 400th anniversary and then credited to the reformer as a marketing gimmick.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Commercial Discography

• Audio CD: University of North Texas Symphonic Band (Dennis Fisher, conductor) - 2012

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• San Jose (Calif.) Wind Symphony (Edward Harris, conductor) - 14 December 2014

Works for Winds by this Composer

• Af-free-kah! (2013)
• All Good Things
• All Through the Night (as arranger) (2011)
• Always (2019)
• Amaranthine
• Appalachian Portrait (2017)
• The Ash Grove (2019)
• Away in a Manger (as arranger)
• Before the Sun (2013)
• The Bench by the Sea (2017)
• Bonsai Tree, The (2010)
• Bookmarks from Japan (2013)
• Boston Liberties
• Carnaval! (2013)
• Chorale for Wind Band and Melodic Percussion (as arranger)
• Christmas and Sousa Forever (as arranger)
• Christmas Toons (2012)
• Christmas with Mozart (2007)
• Circus Franticus (2001)
• Cordoba (2013)
• Crown of Thorns (1998)
• Culloden I and II (2000)
• Culloden III (2000)
• Crown of Thorns
• Dragon Sky (2015)
• Dream Dancer
• The Elements
• Empire
• Fantasy in French (2012)
• Fields of Gold (2019)
• The First Noel (as arranger)
• Fort McHenry Suite (2000)
• Glenbury Grove (2009)
• Glorious Light
• The Grace in Being (2013)
• Greatest Generation, The
• Hands of Mercy
• HardDrive
• Hark! Those Bells Are Smokin’ (2011)
• HearthStone, The (2016)
• Husaria Cavalry Overture (2006)
• Hymn for the Innocent (2016)
• I Got Rhythm for Christmas
• Il Burlone
• I'll Be Home A'fore Ye
• Imbizo (2007)
• Impressions (2013)
• In My Father's Eyes (2017)
• In the Bleak Midwinter (as arranger) (1906/2018)
• Incantations
• Italian Rhapsody (2005)
• Jerusalem (as arranger)
• Jingle Them Bells (as arranger) (1857/2011)
• Journey Through Orion (2006)
• Just Flyin'! (2015)
• Kalanu
• Khan (2008)
• La Mezquita de Córdoba (2005)
• Let Your Spirit Sing
• Little Drummer Boy's Bolero, The
• Louisiana Parish Sketches (2001)
• Mambo Perro Loco (2008)
• March of the Sun Dried Tomatoes (2000)
• Medalist Fanfare (2013)
• Moonshine: See Shine
  
• Movin' On Down the Line
• My Soul to Keep (2019)
• Mystery on Mena Mountain (1985)
• Nature of the Beast, The
• No Finer Calling (2006)
• No Man's Land (2017)
• Nothing That Is (2000)
• Nutcracker Fantasia (2012)
• O Holy Night (arr. Giroux) (1847/2011)
• Of Blood and Stone (2015)
• One Life Beautiful (2010)
• One Torch, Two Women, Three Ships and Men Rejoicing (2011)
• Opa! (2018)
• Ouachita (1987)
• Our Cast Aways (2018)
• Overture in Five Flat (2010)
• Paprikash (2014)
• Peter Patapan (2011)
• Poseidon
• Primality!
• Radiant Shadows (2016)
• Riften Wed (2013)
• Shadow Falls
• Shine (2017)
• Space Symphony (1986/1991)
• Speed of Heat, The
• Stealing Home (2016)
• Stocking Full of Composers, A (2009)
• Symphony No. 5 (2017)
• Symphony of Fables, A (2006)
• Taboo for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble
• Three Fanfares (2003)
• Three Wise Guys (2011)
• Tiger Tail March (2000)
• Time to Dance, A
• To Walk with Wings (2000)
• Twelve Days of Christmas, The (Giroux)
• The Twelve Gallon Hat (2013)
• Under the Willow (2015)
• A Very Merry Heart and Soul
• Vigils Keep (2005)
• Vortex (2015)
• Wagon Trail
• West Wind Overture (2012)
• What Child Is That Playing Carol of the Bells? (as arranger) (2011)
• What Goes in the Night (2000)
• When Country Comes to Town
• Where the Red Fern Grows (2016)
• Wild West Overture
• Without You
• Wolves in Moonlight (2019)
• Zephyr, Chorale and Dance (2012)

References

• Away in a Manger, Wikipedia Accessed 25 December 2015