The Lord at First Did Adam Make (arr. Backhouse) — Choir of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh

The Choir of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, under the direction of Timothy Byram-Wigfield, perform a bouncy setting of the traditional text 'The Lord at First Did Adam Make,' arranged for SATB choir by St Mary's organist Peter Backhouse.

Backhouse's setting of the text, which tells of the temptation and fall of Man before promising Heavenly redemption, takes a rather different tone than do David Willcocks and Philip Moore's arrangements of the traditional, minor-key carol, which are often performed at Kings College-style Lessons and Carols in lieu of Ord's or Warlock's somber 'Adam Lay Ybounden.' Backhouse's setting, by contrast, is ebullient and bright, dwelling on the coming salvation rather than on the Fall.

[ Text ]

The Lord at first did Adam make
   
Out of the dust and clay,

And in his nostrils breathed life,
   
E'en as the Scriptures say.

And then in Eden's Paradise
   
He placed him to dwell,

That he within it should remain
   
To dress and keep it well.

(Now let good Christians all begin

An holy life to live,

And to rejoice and merry be,

For this is Christmas Eve.)

And thus within the garden he
Was set, therein to stay;
And in commandment unto him
These words the Lord did say:
"The fruit which in the garden grows
To thee shall be for meat,
Except the tree in midst thereof
Of which thou shall not eat."

"For in the day thou shalt it touch
Or dost to it come nigh,
If so thou do that eat thereof,
Then thou shalt surely die."
But Adam he did take no heed
Unto that only thing,
But did transgress God's holy law,
And so was wrapt in sin.

Now mark the goodness of the Lord,
Which He to mankind bore;
His mercy soon He did extend,
Lost man for to restore:
And therefore to redeem our souls
From death and hellish thrall,
He said His own dear son should be
The Saviour of us all.

[ Recording available on the disk 'In the Bleak Midwinter' (Herald, 1993). ]