In terra pax

Bells peal and frost crunches cold underfoot in Gerald Finzi’s Christmas cantata In Terra Pax (1954). One of the last works the composer would complete before his death in 1956, it takes the familiar story of the angels appearing to the shepherds—as told in St Luke’s Gospel—and transposes it to the composer’s own English countryside: “a vision seen by a wanderer on a dark and frosty Christmas Eve.” Finzi brings the Gospel text together with Robert Bridges’ poem Noel: Christmas Eve 1913. A timeless story becomes rooted in near-history: peace on earth, found on the eve of the conflict that would take the life of so many of those closest to Finzi himself. There’s a poignancy to the piece, to faith and beauty celebrated in defiance of the loss that dogged the composer’s life. Baritone and soprano soloists join choir and orchestra for a work in two parts. After an orchestral introduction, with themes suggesting both bells and The First Nowell, the baritone (singing Bridges’ words) leads “A Frosty Christmas Eve”. The solitary scene expands, suddenly flooded with light at the start of Part II: “Lo, the Angel of the Lord”. The choir and soprano soloist—an angelic voice from above—rejoice in the news of the Nativity. But the vision fades and the work ends as it began, with the baritone alone on the hillside, marvelling.