In the midst of the earth

My offering today is new to me, although it’s about a hundred years old. Technically, it’s not about Christmas, but it is sacred and how can something titled “Salvation Is Created” not be about Christmas?

The preponderance of Pavel Tchesnokov’s compositions were sacred, until he was forced by the Soviets to concentrate on secular music. He was a triple threat—composer, conductor and choirmaster (kind of like Bach). This one, published in 1913, was one of his final sacred works.

The words are pretty simple; in English it’s “Salvation is created, in the midst of the earth, O God, Our God. Alleluia.” So, yeah—pretty Christmasy, in my opinion.

Here’s a choir from Yale singing it in Russian: