Now the Green Blade Riseth/Sing We Now of Christmas (NOEL NOUVELET) – for six handbells and piano

Here’s a brand new earworm for you – it’s the French tune NOEL NOUVELET in 7/8 meter. There are two hymn titles associated with the melody (Sing We Now of Christmas and Now the Green Blade Riseth), so you can play this two times each year!

Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
Wheat that in the dark earth many years has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

When our hearts are saddened, grieving or in pain,
By Your touch You call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

Our piano-accompanied six-handbell arrangement of Now the Green Blade Riseth/Sing We Now of Christmas (hymn tune: NOEL NOUVELET) provides an opportunity to play as a two-bells-each trio. Another possibility is to play as a duet where one ringer plays four bells and the other (perhaps a younger/newer player!) plays two bells.

The six bells in the score are accompanied by piano; if you don’t happen to have an accompanist available, we also have an accompaniment MP3 available for purchase.