NEWBORN GLIMMER (2019)

orchestra
2222/4221/3perc/hp/strings
duration 6:00
available for rental from Tempo Music Resource

"När juldagsmorgon glimmar, jag vill till stallet gå. Guds son i nattens timmar re'n vilar uppå strå.

"When Christmas morning glimmers I want to go to the stable. God's son, in the night hours, already rests upon the straw." [translation by the composer]

Newborn Glimmer is an orchestral fantasy on the Swedish hymn "När juldagsmorgon glimmar," sung in English as "When Christmas Morn is Dawning." I like the simple directness of the original Swedish text, and its juxtaposition of dawn and night: Christ arrives in the darkness before the light, in the form of a baby in a manger, lying on straw.

I began composing this piece in the middle of winter in my home in Dalarna, Sweden, where the nights are very long and the weather is snowy and cold. This piece is a lullaby sung in the cold darkness, as we wait for the light of morning.

"Newborn Glimmer" by composer Matthew Peterson opens the 2019 St. Olaf Christmas Festival in Northfield, Minnesota. Performed by the St. Olaf Orchestra, conductor Steven Amundson. Newborn Glimmer was a joint commission by St. Olaf College, James Madison University, and First Baptist San Antonio. Video courtesy of St. Olaf College.

SELECT PERFORMANCES

joint world premiere:
St Olaf Orchestra, cond. Steven Amundson, St. Olaf Christmas Festival (Northfield, MN), Dec. 5-8 2019
James Madison University, cond. Foster Beyers, Dec. 7-8 2019
First Baptist San Antonio, Dec. 7 2019