Saint Nicolas
Op. 42. Cantata for tenor solo, chorus (SATB), semi-chorus (SA), four boy singers and string orchestra, piano duet, percussion and organ. (1948)
This cantata, commissioned by Peter Pears’ old school Lancing College, tells the life of the fourth-century Bishop of Myra in a work of great poetry and sensitivity. It was conceived and composed with semi-amateur performance in mind and the technical demands of the choral and orchestral writing are appropriately straightforward, although the effect is one of sheer brilliance and exuberance. The audience also gets to join in two well-known hymns, All people that on earth do dwell and God moves in a mysterious way.
