Gabriel's Message:
The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came

Gabriel's Message: "The Angel Gabriel from heaven came" is a Christmas song that is almost unknown. Yet it is incredibly lovely!  Listen to a piano arrangement in Am, borrowed from my other website.

A lovely vocal duet

This free online Christmas music for a capella singers "Gabriel's Message" is a haunting and very beautiful old carol.  Also check out my link below to access a very pretty piano arrangement.

Gabriel's Message, a vocal duet

Scroll down the page to access the free printable PDF links.

This is my 2-part arrangement for unaccompanied singers.

The Choir of Winchester Cathedral sings a traditional arrangement of Gabriel's Message:

Page two of the duet "Gabriel's Message" vocal duet:

Basque Christmas Carol

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

My arrangement has enough harmonic dissonance in it to give it an other-worldly flavor, but the feeling is more medieval than contemporary. 


Piano arrangement of Gabriel's Message, which can be seen at SingTheBibleStory.com

Are you interested in the  piano version of Gabriel's Message played in the video at the top of the page?

Then jump on over to my newer, smaller website, SingTheBibleStory.com, to get a look at this piece of music.

One version comes with fingering; the other does not.  

Lead sheets too!


I've made a new vocal duet version, below, with letters in the notes for the weak pianists (or non-pianist singers), who must take the music home and learn it with little help:

Christmas song Gabriel's Message, with lettered notes
Basque carol with made-easy notes for reading

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

An easier arrangement

I've changed my original arrangement a bit to make it easier.

The dissonant seconds and the tritone require confidence for small groups to sing, so I decided to clean the harmonies up a bit.  

How hard is this duet for young singers?

The soprano melody is lovely and easy; the alto part is tricky (for a beginning choir) and requires careful attention to the notes, as there is much step-wise motion back and forth, and slurs that look deceptively like ties.

After singing it with the words, my choir sang it with the counting. ("3, 1-2, 3, 1-2, 3, 1-2" etc.) This is always a good way to "burn" the counting in.

The origin of this carol

Also called "The Angel Gabriel" and "The Basque Carol," it is believed that this carol was "found" by French composer Charles Bordes (1863-1909) while researching traditional Basque music.

The English translation was written by Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924).

I hope you and your students come to love this sweet carol as much as I do! 




The vocal links:



Download free online Christmas music Gabriel's Message 



Download lettered-notes version of Gabriel's Message


And the page at SingTheBibleStory.com where you can download the piano arrangement



Dianna:
Your website is a light in the darkness. THANK YOU for all you do in helping to spread the love of music. It matters!

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SingTheBibleStory.com clickable logo link

Songs Old & Songs New

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Liz:
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About the Author

Dana Thynes

Hi, I'm Dana!  (Say that like "Anna".)  I'm the owner of Music-for-Music-Teachers.com, and a newer site, SingTheBibleStory.com.

Like some of you, I've been playing the piano since early childhood, and have added a few other instruments along the way, plus an interest in arranging and composing music.

You can find out more about me and the reason for this website at my About Me page.