Singing Our Faith in the Great Hymns of Advent and Christmas

Part 3

Caroling Through Advent and Christmas. Daily Reflections with Familar Hymns. Boyer, Mark. Liguori, 2014.

Christmas Carols Complete Verses. Weller, Shane (editor). Dover Publications, 1992.

Hymnal 1982, According To The Use Of The Episcopal Church. Church Publishing.

Joy to the World. Sacred Christmas Music Through the Ages, Menendez, Albert J & Shirley C. Cumberland House.

O Come Emmanuel. A Musical Tour of Daily Readings for Advent and Christmas, Giles, Gordon. Paraclete Press, 2006.

n Eternal God, your Son revealed your light to the nations and filled all people with your grace. Make us temples of your Holy Spirit, dwelling places of light, that we might not only recognize your light in others but also shine with the brilliance of Christ, who is Lord forever and ever. Amen.

From: Caroling Through Advent and Christmas. Daily Reflections with Familar Hymns. Boyer, Mark. Liguori, 2014, page 99.

Introduction

Introductionn Music shapes belief.n It has often been said that Christians learn more of their

working theology from the hymns they sing than from all their catechisms, Sunday school classes or adult education groups.

n In these sessions we are touring some of the great hymns of Advent and Christmas.

n We will:n briefly survey some background on each hymn,n listen to a recording of the hymn, focusing on its words, on its

lyrics and poetry. ¡

Introductionn In our first session, we started with some Advent

hymns, and then moved on to some Christmas hymns:n Come, thou long-expected Jesus (Hymn #66)n O come, O come, Emmanuel (Hymn #56)n Creator of the stars of night (Hymn #66)n The Angel Gabriel / Gabriel’s Messagen Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming (Hymn #81)n O little town of Bethlehem (Hymn #79) ¡

Introductionn Last week, we covered:n What Child Is This (Hymn #115)n Once in Royal David’s City (Hymn #102)n While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night

(Hymn #94)n Hark! the Herald Angels Sing (Hymn #87)n Away in a Manger (Hymn #101)n O Come, All Ye Faithful (Hymn #83) ¡

Introductionn Today, we will cover:n Angels We Have Heard On High (Hymn #96)n Joy To The World! (Hymn #100)n God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (Hymn #105)n Silent Night, Holy Night (Hymn #111)n The First Noel (Hymn #109)n O Holy Night (not in Hymnal) ¡

Angels We Have Heard On High

Angels We Have Heard On Highn Derived from an 18th century traditional French carol of

unknown origin, Les Anges dans nos campagnes(literally “the angels in our countryside”)

n It is an example of a noel, a lighthearted French carol.n The French carol was first popular in France and

Quebec. n The French carol’s first known publication was in

1843. ¡

Angels We Have Heard On Highn It became popular in England as a result of James

Chadwick, who had loosely translated the hymn into the English “Angels We Have Heard on High”.

n Chadwick was born into a prosperous family in Drogheda, Ireland. n His father, from England, and his mother, from Ireland,

owned a flax mill and linen manufacturing business in Drogheda, Ireland.

n He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1836. ¡

Angels We Have Heard On Highn For many years, Chadwick held posts as professor of

philosophy, dogmatic theology, and pastoral theology at Ushaw College, a Roman Catholic seminary in County Durham, England.

n From 1859 to 1863 he served as chaplain to Lord Stourton, and during this time wrote “Angels We Have Heard for High” for his book Holy Family Hymns in 1860.

n In 1866, he was elected Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, northeast England. ¡

Angels We Have Heard On Highn The carol quickly became popular in England,

and spread.n The carol’s subject is the birth of Jesus Christ

described in Luke 2:8-15, where shepherds outside Bethlehem encounter a multitude of angels singing and praising the newborn child.

n Gloria in excelsis Deo: Latin for “Glory to God in the Highest”, the first line of the song of the angels in Luke. ¡

Angels We Have Heard On Highn Hymn #96 in 1982 Hymnal.n Words: French carol; translated by Bishop

James Chadwick (1813-1882).n Music: Gloria, 18th century French carol;

arr. Edward Shippen Barnes (1887-1958).n Recording: Christmas in Chicago. Choirs

of Holy Name Cathedral. Richard Proulx, Music Director, Gia Publications / Naxos, 1990.

Angels we have heard on high,Sweetly singing o’er the plains,And the mountains in reply,Echoing their joyous strains.Gloria in excelsis Deo;Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Shepherds, why this jubilee?Why your joyous strains prolong?What the gladsome tidings beWhich inspire your heav’nly song?Gloria in excelsis Deo;Gloria in excelsis Deo.

See Him in a manger laid,Whom the choirs of angels praise;Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,While our hearts in love we raise.Gloria in excelsis Deo;Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Joy to the World!

Joy to the World!n Isaac Watts (1674-1748), author of “Joy to the

World”, wrote some 750 poems that have been set to music.n Another of his famous hymns “When I Survey the

Wondrous Cross.”n He was born in Southampton, England.n A pious young man, he prepared early for the

ministry. ¡

Joy to the World!n His father was a deacon in a Non-conformist church (=

not conforming to the established Church of England).n His father also owned a boardinghouse and was

imprisoned twice for religious dissent. n His mother carried Isaac in her arms when she sang hymns

outside the prison to encourage her husband.n Young Isaac complained about the boring and listless

hymns in his congregation, and his father challenged him to write better ones.

n At age 15, he wrote his first hymn, and his father’s church sang it. ¡

Joy to the World!n He was a lifelong bachelor.n He was briefly a pastor at the Independent Church in

Mark Lane, London.n Because of ill-health, he resigned from his pulpit in

1712.n He then accepted an invitation to recuperate for a week

at the estate of Sir Thomas Abney, the Lord Mayor of London.

n Instead he stayed thirty-six years until his death, becoming the private chaplain of the household. ¡

Joy to the World!n Joy to the World appeared in Watts’s 1719

book, Psalms of David, n It was not always seen as a Christmas hymn, n In Episcopal hymnals from 1874 to 1940, it

was a “general” hymn.n In practice, it was sung only at Christmastime. ¡

Joy to the World!n The hymn is based on Psalm 98, rather than on the Nativity narrative:

Psalm 98:4-9 (NRSV):n Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous

song and sing praises. Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody.

n With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.

n Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it.n Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joyn at the presence of the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth. n He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. ¡

Voice of Stephen Johnston

Joy to the World!n Hymn #100 in 1982 Hymnal.n Words: Isaac Watts (1674-1748).n Music: Antioch, George Frideric

Handel (1685-1759); adapt. and arr. Lowell Mason (1792-1872).

n Recording: Joy to the World. A selection from The Novello Book of Carols. Worcester Cathedral Choir, Donald Hunt, conductor. Hyperion, 2009.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;Let earth receive her King;Let ev’ry heart prepare him room,And heav’n and nature sing,And heav’n and nature sing,And heav’n, and heav’n and nature

sing.

Joy to the world! the Savior reigns;Let all their songs employ;While fields and floods, rocks, hills

and plainsRepeat the sounding joy,Repeat the sounding joy,Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations proveThe glories of his righteousness,And wonders of his love,And wonders of his love,And wonders, wonders of his love.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come!

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemenn “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” is a traditional

English carol; the author is unknown.n It may date to 16th century; the earliest printed edition

was in 1760.n Charles Dickens refers to it in his 1843 A Christmas

Carol: “.. at the first sound of ‘God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!’, Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.” ¡

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemenn The carol reminds us:n A “blessed angel” “brought tidings” that the little baby

born in Bethlehem was none other than “the Son of God by name.”

n The infant “savior” came to “save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray.”

n The last verse suggests the holy tide of Christmas should engulf all of us, and fill us with true love and brotherhood. ¡

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemenn Hymn #105 in 1982 Hymnal.n Words: traditional London carol,

18th century.n Music: God Rest You Merry, melody

from Little Book of Christmas Carols, about 1850; harm. Charles Winfred Douglas (1867-1944).

n Naxos Carol Collection. Various Artists. Naxos Records. 2007.

God rest you merry, gentlemen,Let nothing you dismay,For Jesus Christ our SaviorWas born upon this day,To save us all from Satan’s powerWhen we were gone astray,O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and

joy;O tidings of comfort and joy!

From God our Heavenly FatherA blessed angel came,And unto certain shepherdsBrought tidings of the same,How that in Bethlehem was bornThe Son of God by name.O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and

joy;O tidings of comfort and joy!

The shepherds at those tidingsRejoiced much in mind,And left their flocks a-feedingIn tempest, storm and wind,And went to Bethlehem straightway,This blessed babe to find.O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and

joy;O tidings of comfort and joy!

But when to Bethlehem they came,Whereat this infant lay,They found him in a manger,Where oxen feed on hay;His mother Mary kneelingUnto the Lord did pray.O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and

joy;O tidings of comfort and joy!

Now to the Lord sing praises,All you within this place,And with true love and brotherhoodEach other now embrace;This holy tide of ChristmasAll others doth deface.O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and

joy;O tidings of comfort and joy!

Silent Night, Holy Night

Silent Night, Holy Nightn Setting: Christmas Eve, 1818, at the village

church of St. Nicholas, in the hamlet of Obemdorf, Austria, a mountainous village 11 miles from Salzburg, Austria.

n Just before the Christmas Eve service was to begin, the organ broke.n St. Nicholas lay close to the Salzach River, and

humidity had rusted the organ. ¡

Silent Night, Holy Nightn The assistant priest at St. Nicholas, Father Joseph

Mohr (1792-1848), dreading a festive service with no music, quickly wrote a six-stanza poem, “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” for the Christmas eve service.

n The part-time organist, Franz Gruber (1787-1863), a local schoolteacher who moonlighted by playing the organ at local churches, came up with a tune for two solo voices, a chorus, and a guitar.

n The new carol thus premiered at midnight, Christmas Eve, 1818, at St. Nicholas village church. ¡

Silent Night, Holy Nightn In spring 1819, an organ repairman, Karl Mauracher, from

Zillerthal, Austria, came to fix the rusted organ. n He left with a copy of the new carol, and brought it to the

attention of local singing groups throughout the Tyrol region of Austria.

n Two singing families, the Rainers and the Strassers, added the song to their repertoires. n At this time, singing groups were a popular feature of life

throughout Germany, Austria, and Central Europe.n Country fairs and festivals vied with each other to present the

most authentic and vibrant singing groups. ¡

Silent Night, Holy Nightn The Strassers performed the carol before the king of Prussia in 1834.

n The king loved the carol, and gave it his endorsement. n It appeared in a German song book collection in 1838.

n It was called a Tyrolean folk song. No one seemed to know the name of the author or the musician.

n Copyright laws were generally unknown or unenforced, and music was routinely pirated in those days.

n The hymn’s author, Father Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), remained an obscure parish priest for his entire life. n He was transferred from parish to parish, and in 1848, at the age of 56,

died unrecognized as the hymn’s author. ¡

Silent Night, Holy Nightn In 1863, John Freeman Young (1820-1885) translated the carol into

English. n Young was born 1820 in the farm town of Pittston, Maine, n He abandoned a scientific career in his mid-twenties, and studied to be a

priest in the Episcopal Church, graduating from the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria in 1845.

n He was assigned to St. John’s Church in Jacksonville, then served as a missionary in Texas and Louisiana.

n In 1860, he was transferred to New York City’s Trinity Church on Wall Street.

n At Trinity, he began to collect many Latin, Greek, and German hymns with the intention of publishing a volume of all the greatest Christian hymns of every age and nation.

n His translation of “Silent Night” was done for the hymnal in 1863. ¡

Silent Night, Holy Nightn While trying to complete his hymnal, Young was unexpectedly

named the Bishop of Florida in 1867.n There he worked for some 18 years, also doing missionary work in

Cuba. n Shortly before his death in 1885, Young asked his friend, Bishop

John Henry Hopkins of Vermont, to see that his hymn collection was published.

n The hymn collection appeared two years after Young died, Great Hymns of the Church.

n Young’s translation of “Silent Night” became the standard version in the United States. ¡

Silent Night, Holy Nightn The hymn was broadcast over Austrian radio every

Christmas Eve until the Nazi invasion of 1938, when it was deemed “inappropriate” by the new Nazi government. ¡

Silent Night, Holy Nightn Hymn #111 in 1982 Hymnal.n Words: Joseph Mohr (1792-1848); translated

from the German by John Freeman Young(1820-1885).

n Music: Stille Nacht, melody Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863); harm. Carl H. Reinecke (1824-1910).

n Recording: The Joy of Christmas. The Cathedral Choral Society of the National Cathedral, Washington D.C. J Reilly Lewis, Conductor. Centaur Records, 1992.

Silent night, holy night!All is calm, all is bright‘Round yon Virgin Mother and Child.Holy Infant, so tender and mild,Sleep in heavenly peace!Sleep in heavenly peace!

Silent night, holy night!Shepherds quake at the sight.Glories stream from heaven afar,Heav’nly hosts sing “Alleluia!”Christ the Saviour is born!Christ the Saviour is born!

Silent night, holy night!Son of God, love’s pure light,Radiant beams from thy holy face,With the dawn of redeeming grace,Jesus, Lord, at thy birth,Jesus, Lord, at thy birth!

The First Noel

The First Noeln We do not know the authors of the words, or the

music, of “The First Noel”.n It is at least 3 centuries old, and perhaps older.n The music may well have been a dance tune for a

secular occasion or a church festival. ¡

The First Noeln It was first published in William Sandys’s Christmas

Carols, Ancient and Modern, in 1833, one of the first anthologies devoted to Christmas music.

n “The First Noel” did not enter the Episcopal Hymnal until 1916.

n Noel = another word for Christmas, or the season around Christmas. Now obsolete except in Christmas carols.n Early versions spelled Noel as Nowell,” the Old English

form of the French noel. ¡

The First Noeln The inspiration for the author was Luke 2:10:

n But the angel said to them [the shepherds], “Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:”

n The primary actors are the shepherds and wise men.n The author takes some poetic license with the New

Testament text: the shepherds see the star. n The final verse reminds us the newborn Jesus is:

n the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and n Savior of humanity. ¡

The First Noeln Hymn #109 in 1982 Hymnal.n Words: traditional English carol,

18th century.n Music: The First Noel, English carol,

17th cent.; harm. John Stainer (1841-1901); alt. refrain harm. and desc. Healey Willan (1880-1968).

n Naxos Carol Collection. Various Artists. Naxos Records. 2007

The first Noel the angel did sayWas to certain poor shepherds in fields as

they lay;In fields where they lay, keeping their

sheep,On a cold winters night that was so deep.Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,Born is the King of Israel!

They looked up and saw a star,Shining in the east beyond them far;And to the earth it gave great light,And so it continued both day and night.Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,Born is the King of Israel!

And by the light of that same star,Three Wise Men came from country far;To seek for a king was their intent,And to follow the star wheresoever it

went.Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,Born is the King of Israel!

This star drew nigh to the northwest;O’er Bethlehem it took its rest,And there it did both stop and stayRight over the place where Jesus lay.Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,Born is the King of Israel!

Then entered in those Wise Men three,Fell reverently upon their knee,And offered there in his presenceBoth gold and myrrh and frankincense.Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,Born is the King of Israel!

Then let us all with one accordSing praises to our heavenly Lord,That hath made heav’n and earth of

nought,And with his blood mankind hath

bought.Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,Born is the King of Israel!

O Holy Night

O Holy Nightn In the 1847, in the town of Roquemaure, in the Rhone

Valley of southern France, a local parish priest asked a wine dealer and part-time poet, Placide Cappeau(1808-1877) to write a Christmas hymn and take it to the famous composer Adolphe-Charles Adam (1803-1856) in Paris.n Cappeau had a friend, a singer, who knew the composer.n Adolphe-Charles Adam was the composer of the popular

opera Giselle, then the rage in Paris. ¡

O Holy Nightn Cappeau wrote the poem on the train to Paris on

December 3, 1847n Adam liked Cappeau’s poem, and wrote the music for

it in just a few days.n “O Holy Night” received its first performance at

Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in Roquemaure.n An American music critic and journalist, John Sullivan

Dwight (1813-1893), translated the hymn from the French for the best-known English language version. ¡

O Holy Nightn There is an oft told story, although probably a legend,

that the hymn helped bring about a brief Christmas truce during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71:n A French soldier emerged from his trenches on Christmas

Eve singing “Cantique de Noel” (Song of Christmas; the French title of “O Holy Night”).

n The hymn so moved the opposing German army that a German soldier arose and sang “Von Himmel Hoch” (From Heaven Above to Earth I Come), Martin Luther’s beloved carol.

n For a brief time, hostilities ceased. ¡

O Holy Nightn The first two verses celebrate the night of the

Nativity.n The final verse speaks of peace and liberation of

humankind from oppression and slavery – still present in many lands when Cappeau wrote the words (in particular, in the United States of America). ¡

O Holy Nightn Not in 1982 Hymnal.n Words: Placide Cappeau (1808-

1877). Translated from the French by John Sullivan Dwight (1813-1893).

n Music: Adolphe-Charles Adam (1803-1856).

n Recording: 100 Years of Nine Lessons & Carols. King’s College Choir Cambridge, Sir Stephen Cleobury (conductor). Hyperion.

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining, It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining. Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices! O night divine, the night when Christ was

born; O night divine! O night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming, With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand. So led by light from a star sweetly gleaming, Here came the wisemen from the Orient land. The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend. He knows our need, to our weakness no

stranger, Behold your King! Before him lowly bend! Behold your King! O King, we lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another, His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break, for the slave is our

brother. And in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise

we, Let all within us we praise His holy name. Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we, His power and glory ever more proclaim! His power and glory ever more proclaim!