Stephen Watkins' Fantasy on I Saw Three Ships for Cello Octet
With half of November gone, winter is on the horizon... and so is the holiday season, with its many opportunities for some innovative cello ensemble holiday concerts.
Editor Stephen Watkins remarks that "(w)riting music for Christmas often creates conflicting challenges for composers." Many holiday performances carry a requirement, or at least an expectation, of some themed programming. This type of music is often derided as cliché and sub-par. As such, Mr. Watkins undertook a mission to "provide accessible music which will appeal to audiences while not being 'trite' or condescending to players or audience."
The result? A cello octet arrangement of the popular Christmas carol "I Saw Three Ships," available to add to your holiday repertoire.
About Watkin's Fantasy on I Saw Three Ships for Cello Octet
Watkins regards the Fantasy on I Saw Three Ships as a "set of variations that run into each other without a break." As a variation of the Greensleeves / What Child is This melody, this work is instantly recognizable to audiences. This arrangement for eight celli introduces the familiar tune in a 5/4 setting, before inverting the theme into a lullaby and concluding with a fugue section.
Here are the English lyrics for the first three verses.
1. 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.
2. And what was in those ships all three?
On Christmas day, on Christmas day,
And what was in those ships all three?
On Christmas day in the morning.
3. Our Saviour Christ and his lady
On Christmas day, on Christmas day,
Our Saviour Christ and his lady,
On Christmas day in the morning.
About the Editor – Stephen Watkins
Stephen Watkins was born in 1954. He attended the Guidhall School of Music in London majoring in trombone and piano. His main interest however while at the Guildhall was really composition and benefited from the tuition of very diverse composition professors. On leaving college Stephen took up employment as a classroom music teacher in the United Kingdom and then later, after a brief spell in Iceland, specialized in instrumental teaching.
For the last 20 years he has worked in a music school in Germany where he is currently the principal. In his mid-forties, a medical crisis prevented Stephen from continuing as a professional trombonist, and he converted to the cello as his primary instrument. Stephen's works and arrangements are published by publishing houses in the US, Holland, Austria and Germany and include pieces for brass, recorders, and strings.
Learn more about Stephen Watkins and his arrangements at Ovation Press.