Translation: John F. Young. Text by Joseph Mohr.
This favorite of all favorite carols is scored for organ, string quartet, SATB choir, and assembly.
Special features are the instrumental introduction and interlude before the final stanza, the "free" middle stanza for choir that takes liberties with the tune, and the soaring soprano descant over the final stanza.
All the while, the strings are adding a layer of highly decorative counterpoint and running sixteenth figures.
