Sussex Carol – Flute Quartet

The Sussex Carol is a Christmas carol popular in Britain, sometimes referred to by its first line “On Christmas night all Christians sing”. It became associated with Sussex because it was collected at Monk’s Gate by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and he subsequently used it in his Fantasia on Christmas Carols.

Each verse is made up of two couplets, with the second having three-measure phrasing rather than the standard two- or four-bar phrasing. In addition, there’s a measure with an extra beat, which adds to the charm of the piece.

Measures 13-15 can be played down an octave if it’s too high for your group. That also includes measure 16 for Flute 1.

The flute quartets can easily be expanded to flute choir by adding both alto and bass flutes. The Alto Flute part is included and the bass plays Flute 4.

Composer: Bill Reichenbach
Instrumentation: Flute Quartet
Duration/# of Pages: ca. 2:20 / 12 pages, 8.5″ x 11″
Key: N/A