Carp and Carols with the Nightingales

Slavíčci

A few days ago David Vaughan went to meet the Slavíčci – or Nightingales – one of Prague’s best-known children’s choirs. He talked to members of the choir about the rich tradition of Czech Christmas music, about why you might find yourself sharing your bath with a carp in the days before Christmas Eve, and what it’s like to sing beneath the towering Gothic vaults of Saint Vitus’ Cathedral. And, of course, the choir also brings us some of the best loved Czech carols, recorded especially for Radio Prague. That and more, in Radio Prague’s special Christmas Day programme. Happy listening.

The carols sung by the Slavíčci in this programme are:

Nesem vám noviny

V Betlémě a ve vůkolí

Vzhůru, bratři milí!

Štědrý večer nastal

Veselé Vánoční hody

Jak jsi krásné, neviňátko

Hej, hej, koleda!

Dej Bůh štěstí!

Narodil se Kristus pán.

If you would like to hear just the music featured in the programme: i.e. the carols, followed by the Moravian folk song “Slavíček zpívá”, Handel’s “Es schlagen freudig unsere Herzen” and Jan Vodňanský’s “Favete Linguis Singuli”, click here.