In The Bleak Midwinter

4. In The Bleak Midwinter
Words: Christina Rossetti/Music: Gustav Holst
Christina Rossetti was a visual artist and poet, sister of the great artist, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The
original poem was published as, "A Christmas Carol", in Scribner's Monthly Magazine, January
1872. She described the Nativity scene in terms ofthe English winter countryside her Italian refugee
family had come to know, rather than the mild winter of Palestine. Holst, best known for "The
planets", was born in England and educated at The Royal College of Music, yet the melody is like a
simple folk tune.