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Silent Night is a popular carol composed by Franz Xaver Grüber in 1818 near Salzburg in Austria. Legend has it that one Christmas night some mice chewed through vital parts of the organ in Grüber’s church, so he had to compose a carol that could be played on just a guitar. Some carols familiar in English are translations of German Christmas songs ( Weihnachtslieder). Pastoral Weihnachtslieder are sometimes called Hirtenlieder ("shepherd songs"). Martin Luther wrote the carol " Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her", which can be acted as a play of the Christmas story. He also wrote " Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ" and " Christum wir sollen loben schon". The carol " Vom Himmel hoch, o Engel, kommt" was written by Friedrich Spee in 1622 to an older melody, a lullaby singing "of Jesus and Mary", and for peace. Several different Christmas episodes, apart from the birth of Jesus itself, are described in Christmas carols, such as: Tiny Tim talks about going to church and says, “it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”
After Scrooge leaves his office, there’s this: “Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern; and having read all the newspapers, and beguiled the rest of the evening with his banker’s-book, went home to bed.” I figured there’d be a whole couple of paragraphs at the restaurant. Nope! Christmas, remembering the birth of Jesus, then started to be celebrated at the same time as the solstice, so the early Christians started singing Christian songs instead of pre-Christian/pagan ones. In 129, a Roman Bishop said that a song called "Angel's Hymn" should be sung at a Christmas service in Rome. Another famous early Christmas Hymn was written in 760, by Comas of Jerusalem, for the Greek Orthodox Church. Soon after this many composers all over Europe started to write 'Christmas carols'. However, not many people liked them as they were all written and sung in Latin, a language that the normal people couldn't understand. This gentle lullaby was originally known as ‘Luther’s Cradle Song’ although it later transpired that it was not the work of the famous German theologian Martin Luther at all, and was in fact wholly American in origin. The words have two different musical settings, both of which are still performed today. King, Henry John; Commission, Australian Broadcasting; Australia, Symphony (12 March 1899). While all things were in quiet silence: anthem for Christmas. [London]: Novello and Company – via Trove.The whole point of the book is that he changes for the better, and right from the start there are hints that he wasn’t and isn’t irredeemably bad. For example, he never removed Marley’s name from the sign above his office. I don’t think the reason was solely parsimony because during and after the ghostly encounters, we see different aspects of Scrooge, surely exposed by the ghosts, not actually created by them. So maybe part of the reason for leaving the name was a fondness for the memory of his friend and partner - a link to happier times. The publication of Christmas music books in the 19th century helped to widen the popular appeal of carols. " God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen", " The First Noel", " I Saw Three Ships" and " Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" appear in English antiquarian William Sandys' 1833 collection Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern. [8] Composers such as Arthur Sullivan helped to repopularise the carol, and it is this period that gave rise to such favourites as " Good King Wenceslas" and " It Came Upon the Midnight Clear", a New England carol written by Edmund H. Sears and Richard S. Willis. The publication in 1871 of Christmas Carols, New and Old by Henry Ramsden Bramley and Sir John Stainer was a significant contribution to a revival of carols in Victorian Britain. In 1916, Charles Lewis Hutchins published Carols Old and Carols New, a scholarly collection which suffered from a short print run and is consequently rarely available today. The Oxford Book of Carols, first published in 1928 by Oxford University Press (OUP), was a notably successful collection; edited by the British composers Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams, along with clergyman and author Percy Dearmer, it became a widely used source of carols in among choirs and church congregations in Britain and remains in print today. [9] [10] Delany, J. A.; Commission, Australian Broadcasting; Australia, Symphony (12 March 2018). Yule-tide gavotte. [n.p.: Paling & Co – via Trove.
In addition, some carols describe Christmas-related events of a religious nature, but not directly related to the birth of Jesus. For example: A contemporary carol written by British composer and clergyman Michael Perry in the 1960s. Lyrics from the carol have appeared on postage stamps from the Carribean islands Nevis and St. Kitts. This lively and energetic carol first shot to fame in 1969. Carols were being collected and printed widely by the 19th century. And in 1880, it’s believed the Christmas carol service was invented in Truro by an Edward White Benson, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury. See Amid The Winter’s Snow is a carol written for Christmas Day, with the celebratory lyrics, ‘Hail thou ever blessed morn’ to welcome the newborn Christ. The melody was written by John Goss, then organist at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Another carol which likely had its origins in the medieval Mystery Plays, this carol was ‘collected’ by William Sandys in 1833. This carol is unusual because the text features Jesus speaking in the first person, describing his life, death and resurrection through the analogy of a ‘dance’.Originally written with French words by Adolphe Adam in 1847, O Holy Night has become a timeless favourite covered by countless contemporary artists including Mariah Carey. Adam was actually an opera composer, and he wrote this lilting melody to be sung in his local church to celebrate the renovation of their organ. Other popular and widely sung Christmas carols are "Herbei, o ihr Gläub’gen", which is a German version of "Adeste fideles" (English: " O Come, All Ye Faithful"), Alle Jahre wieder ("Every year again"), Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (lit: "A rose has sprung up"), " Leise rieselt der Schnee" "(Silently the snow is falling)", " Tochter Zion, freue dich" (Daughter Zion, rejoice) and " Es ist für uns eine Zeit angekommen" ("Unto us a time has come"). As warm and cosy as drinking hot chocolate in your favourite Christmas jumper. A festive feast of fun.' Maz Evans, bestselling author of Who Let the Gods Out
Overall, I couldn't get over how in just a few chapters, and what people call a short story, he included so many important elements including the greatest character development in all of literature!! ❄️ I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.’ The image of the Holly and the Ivy is an ancient folkloric trope representing the male and the female, and fertility. Like many early carols it was orally preserved and passed down through the centuries before being ‘collected’ and published by Cecil Sharp. Each verse compares an aspect of the Holly to a virtue of the Virgin Mary. But enough of money matters, for now! What follows are a few random observations on this, the latest of my many readings. Many carols which have gained popularity were printed in Piae Cantiones, a collection of late medieval Latin songs which was first published in 1582. Early, Latin forms of carols such as " Christ was born on Christmas Day", " Good Christian Men, Rejoice" and " Good King Wenceslas" can be found in this book. [5] " Adeste Fideles" ("O Come all ye faithful") appears in its current form in the mid-18th century, although the words may have originated in the 13th century. The origin of the tune is disputed.
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Christmas carols are very popular in Poland, where they have a long history, the oldest dating to the 15th century or earlier. [43] There is a tradition of singing Christmas carols until 2 February which is celebrated by western Christians as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. [ citation needed] Romania [ edit ] As one of the most commonly sung Christmas carols, you might be surprised to hear that this Welsh Melody (Nos Galan) was originally sung with original (and rather bawdy) words! The Welsh tune has English lyrics penned in 1862 by a Scot, Thomas Oliphant.
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