Shining in the East (Day Twelve)

The last of the Twelve Days of Christmas is upon us, and tomorrow we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. The three mysterious visitors, only described in the second chapter of Matthew (whoever they may have been: kings, magi, "wise men," maybe not even men, maybe not even three), are on their way. We close our bloggy celebration of the season with a very familiar carol with a very obscure origin.

Sources are unclear as to just how old this carol may be. The text is first published in Some Ancient Christmas Carols (1823), collected by Davies Gilbert, and the text (somewhat altered) joined with this tune followed in Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern (1833). The version usually sung today is the harmonization by John Stainer, from Christmas Carols New and Old (1871). However, all these books were collecting carols from a long-running oral tradition, and scholars differ as to whether this one originally dates from the sixteenth century, or perhaps as early as the thirteenth century.

Apparently, since there isn't much to write about the source of this carol, the writers of hymnal companions have filled up their entries with other information: about the overall carol tradition (Episcopal Hymnal 1940), how they were used in Christmas observances (Lutheran Book of Worship), or even with editorial judgments ("this carol, as is the case with many carols, has little to commend it as a specimen of poetry" -- Presbyterian Hymnal 1933).  The congregation doesn't care; they always sing it heartily, whether on Christmas Eve, or closer to Epiphany (since the star-followers are so prominently featured).

The first Nowell the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.

Refrain
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
Born is the Savior of Israel.

They lookèd 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.
Refrain

And by the light of that same star
Three sages came from country far;
To seek for a king was their intent,
And to follow the star wherever it went.
Refrain

This star drew nigh to the northwest,
Over Bethlehem it took its rest;
And there it did both stop and stay,
Right over the place where Jesus lay.
Refrain

Then entered in those sages three,
Full reverently upon the knee,
And offered there, in his presence,
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense.
Refrain

Traditional English carol, date unknown
Tune: THE FIRST NOWELL (Irregular with refrain)
harm. John Stainer, 1871

"Nowell," of course, is the old English version of the word, which seems more appropriate for this English carol than the French "Noel," though not all hymnal editors agree.



Seven Years Ago: Sound over all waters

Six Years Ago: Do you know the song that the angels sang?

One Year Ago: Where shall the Prince of Peace be born

The Loveliest Blooming Rose (Day Six)

This carol comes from the Kancional (1602) a songbook of the Bohemian Brethren collected by Tobias Zavorka Lipensky (1554-1612). It still appears in Lutheran and Mennonite hymnals today. Zavorka was a pastor in the Bohemian city of Doubrava (now in the Czech Republic), and his influential hymnal contained more than a thousand hymns, songs, and antiphons. The most information available about Lipensky online (which still isn't much) is found only in the Czech version of Wikipedia (though you can translate it with the button at the top of that page).

Let our gladness have no end,
Hallelujah!
For to earth did Christ descend.
Hallelujah!

Refrain
On this day God gave us
Jesus Christ, to save us;
Jesus Christ, to save us.

Prophesied in days of old,
Hallelujah!
Humbly born, as was foretold,
Hallelujah!

See, the loveliest blooming Rose,
Hallelujah!
From the branch of Jesse grows.
Hallelujah!
Refrain

Into flesh is made the Word.
Hallelujah!
Christ, our refuge and our Lord.
Hallelujah!
Refrain

Kancional, 1602; 

tr. unknown; alt.

Tune: NARODILSE KRISTUS PÁN (7.4.7.4. with refrain)

Bohemian carol, 15th cent.

P.S. - If you followed a Facebook link to get here you can click on the blog logo above to see the rest of the current Twelve Days of Christmas celebration.

Eight Years Ago: William Croft

Seven Years Ago: Music I love -- but ne'er a strain

Four Years Ago: Like the sound of many waters

One Year Ago: There's a star in the east

And Where Shall the Savior Rest? (Day Twelve)

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas we have a more contemplative text. We start at the
humble manger, perhaps the place in the story that we can understand best -- no stars
or shepherds or angels -- no miracles, but reality.

Not surprisingly, this text was written during the First World War, and was published
in Carols Old and Carols New (1916), a collection by Charles Lewis Hutchins. Benjamin
Boulter, a London schoolmaster, wrote the text, matched to a tune by his wife, Bertha
Boulter, a violinist and composer. I can't help wondering if the Boulters were personally
affected by the war in any way after reading this text. The photograph above is a bombed-
out church in the French village of Villers–Bretonneux, taken in May, 1918, only one of many houses of worship destroyed by war over the centuries.

Where shall the Prince of Peace be born,
And where shall the Savior rest?
In a stable bare, in a crib forlorn:
For the busy inn will cruelly scorn
Its great and glorious guest.

Where shall the Prince of Peace be born,
And where shall the Savior rest?
To a ruined church, on a Christmas morn,
To a world by hatred and warfare torn,
He comes, the Savior blest.

Where shall the Prince of Peace be born,
And where shall the Savior rest?
In the hearts of those that are crowned with thorn,
In the hearts of the sad bereft that mourn,
In the hearts of the poor oppressed.

Lowly and humble this heart of mine,
Yet there shall the Savior rest;
For the altar lights on the cradle shine,
And the glory of God fills the ruined shrine,
Quia Jesus natus est.

Benjamin C. Boulter, 1916; alt.

Tune: CRIB AND CROSS (Irregular)

Bertha F.L. Boulter, 1916

We've come to the end of another Twelve Days of Christmas here at the blog, and I've
been reminded again what a great volume of material has been written for the season
over the last few centuries.  The surface has barely been scratched!  There are still many
hymns and songs and carols we have not explored: the well-known, the somewhat-known,
and the completely unknown (and, I suppose a fourth category of the rightfully unknown).
Maybe I'll do it again next year.

P.S. - If you came to this post through a Facebook link you can see the whole selection
of hymns for the Twelve Days of Christmas by clicking the blog logo at the top of the page.



Six Years Ago: Sound over all waters

Five Years Ago: Do you know the song that the angels sang?

One Whose Birth the Angels Sing (Day One)

Angels we have heard on high,
Singing sweetly through the night,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their brave delight.

Refrain:
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why these songs of happy cheer?
What great brightness did you see?
What glad tidings did you hear?
Refrain

Come to Bethlehem and see
One whose birth the angels sing,
Come, adore on bended knee
Jesus Christ, and praises bring.
Refrain

See within a manger laid,
Whom the angels praise above;
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
While we raise our hearts in love.
Refrain

French carol; tr. James Chadwick, 1862; alt.
Tune: GLORIA (7.7.7.7. with refrain)
French carol; arr. Edward Shippen Barnes, 1937

As mentioned before, I think it's time again for another CWS Twelve Days of Christmas. Surprisingly (even to me), there are still several well-known songs, hymns and carols which have not yet been seen here, so as before (see December 2009-January 2010 in the archives) we will have a mixture of the known and unknown.  Come back tomorrow (and beyond).

Happy Christmas to all!

Seven Years Ago: Once in royal David's city

Six Years Ago: Where is this stupendous stranger?

Three Years Ago: Hark! the herald angels sing

One Year Ago: What child is this

The Silent Word Is Pleading

What child is this, who laid to rest,
on Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
while shepherds watch are keeping?
 
Refrain:
This, this is Christ the King,
whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
haste, haste to bring him laud,
the babe, the child of Mary.

Why lies he in such mean estate
where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear: for people here
the silent Word is pleading.
Refrain

William Chatterton Dix, 1865
Tune: GREENSLEEVES (8.7.8.7. with refrain)
English ballad melody, 16th cent.


Six Years Ago: Once in royal David's city

Five Years Ago: Where is this stupendous stranger?

Two Years Ago: Hark! the herald angels sing

Following Yonder Star (Day Ten)

Though the Feast of the Epiphany does not occur until the twelfth day after Christmas, many churches will observe it today. Today's most well-known Epiphany hymn is assumed by most people to be a Christmas carol, so it more or less falls within our series.

The story of the magi from the east that follow a star to Bethlehem to pay homage to the newborn Jesus is only told in Matthew 2:1-12. They aren't called "kings" there (nowhere does it say there were three of them either) but apparently it was a later assumption that only kings could afford the gifts they brought. Verses from the Old Testament such as Isaiah 60:3 and Psalm 72:10-11 also prophesy about kings coming and bringing gifts to the Messiah. Online you can read much more about the various legends surrounding these visitors and how those legends developed over time.

We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

Refrain
O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a king on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.
Refrain

Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on high.
Refrain

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb.
Refrain

Glorious now behold him arise;
Monarch, God, and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.
Refrain

John Henry Hopkins, Jr., 1857; alt.
Tune: WE THREE KINGS (8.8.4.4.6. with refrain)

John Henry Hopkins wrote this for a Christmas pageant at the (Episcopal) General Seminary in New York where he was the first music instructor. It was first published in his collection Carols, Hymns, and Songs (1863), where, as you can see, only the refrain was to be sung by the congregation. Three (presumably male) soloists sang the first and last stanzas in three-part harmony, and each sang one stanza of the middle ones. This arrangement was used in many hymnals from the nineteenth century, though rarely, if ever, today. I don't think I've ever been anywhere where it was sung like that.

Hopkins is now only known for writing the words and music of this hymn, but of course he was much better known in his own day. He wrote several other hymn texts and tunes, as well as service music for the Episcopal Church. At the Cyber Hymnal site you can see three more of his Christmas hymns from his 1863 collection, and the titles of several more hymns at the Hymnary.org site.



One Year Ago: Star of the East

To Show God's Love Aright (Day Nine)

Moving away from the obscure for a day or two we come to a Christmas selection that I know is a favorite of many. More than four hundred years old, it comes from German Catholic origins, first published in Gebetbuchlein des Frater Conradus (1582) in nineteen stanzas. At that time it focused on Mary, comparing her to the Rose of Sharon from the Song of Solomon 2:1. In Cologne, a later hymnbook, Alte Catholische Geistliche Kirchengeseng (1599) published twenty-three stanzas.

Before long the hymn was taken up by the Protestants and reinterpreted to relate to Jesus. Some claimed that the German word "Ros," or rose actually should have been "Reis," or branch. This would correspond more closely to Isaiah 11:1.

The translation we know today, mostly from Theodore Baker, somehow or other combines both the Rose with the prophecy of Isaiah. An earlier translation by Catherine Winkworth (1869) remains closer to the Marian German origins of the text. Many of the German stanzas are also preserved online. Most American hymnals today only print these three.

Lo! how a Rose e'er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse's lineage coming,
As those of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it,
The Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it,
The virgin mother kind.
To show God's love aright,
She bore to us a Savior,
When half spent was the night.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
Divisions everywhere;
True flesh, yet very God,
From sin and death Christ saves us,
And lightens every load.

German carol, 15th cent.
tr. Theodore Baker (st. 1 & 2), 1894
Harriet Krauth Spaeth (st. 3), 1875; alt.
Tune: ES IST EIN ROS' (7.6.7.6.6.7.6.)
Cologne, 1599; harm, Michael Praetorius, 1609

Most people probably visualize a red rose when singing this hymn, and another legend about the origins of this carol tells how a German monk from Trier was walking through the woods in winter and found a rose in bloom growing up through the snow. He brought the miraculous flower back and placed it on the altar to the Virgin Mary, and the carol was first written by someone from that monastery. The flower pictured above, however, is the Christmas rose, which does apparently bloom in winter.

This week I came upon another stanza translated by Harriet Spaeth, sometimes used between the second and third one here. Looking further, I see that her full translation, in five stanzas, and generally used in older Lutheran hymnals, begins Behold, a Branch is growing (no Rose for her!). Some of you may know this one; I'm sure I've never sung it before.

The shepherds heard the story
Proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glory
Was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped
And in the manger they found him,
As angel heralds said.

I don't dislike it (the word sped falls in a fun place in the harmony), but I think we've had a lot of shepherds and angels this week, don't you?


One Year Ago: Elizabeth Rundle Charles

Tread Now In Them Boldly (Day Two)

Today's carol is generally considered to be a Christmas one, but the story told in it actually takes place on December 26, St. Stephen's Day, and there's no reference to the the Nativity (though Christ is present in metaphor, I believe). It's also a carol generally only known by its first stanza - could you sing the other four from memory?

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about,
Deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shone the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Gathering winter fuel.

“Hither, page, and stand by me,
If you know it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence,
Underneath the mountain,
Right against the forest fence,
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me food and bring me wine,
Bring me pine logs hither,
You and I will see him dine,
When we bear them thither.”
Page and monarch, forth they went,
Forth they went together,
Through the cold wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather.

“Sire, the night is darker now,
And the wind blows stronger,
Fails my heart, I know not how;
I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, my good page,
Tread now in them boldly,
You shall find the winter’s rage
Freeze your blood less coldly.”

In his master’s steps he trod,
Where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod
Which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christians all, be sure,
Wealth or rank possessing,
You who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.

John Mason Neale, 1853; alt.
Tune: TEMPUS ADEST FLORIDUM (7.6.7.6.D.)
Swedish carol from Piae Cantones, 1582
adapt. Thomas Helmore, 1853

The king not only extends his charity to a poor subject, but his footprints give warmth to his following servant.

This carol was first published in Carols for Christmas-tide (1853), a collection by our old friend John Mason Neale and his musical collaborator Thomas Helmore, though it gained more recognition through its later inclusion in Christmas Carols New and Old (1871) by John Stainer and Henry Bramley, which was a hugely popular collection. This carol (the first stanza, at least) is probably the best known original work of Neale, who was much better known for his translations of Latin and Greek hymns. Neale had previously written the story of Wenceslas in his book Deeds of Faith (1849), a collection of children's stories originally told to his daughter Agnes (perhaps the reason for the inclusion of “Saint Agnes' fountain” in the carol, a fatherly wink of sorts).

There was a historical Saint Wenceslas (not a king), a tenth-century Duke of Bohemia called Vaclav who is the patron saint of the modern Czech Republic (his feast day, September 28, is also celebrated as Czech Statehood Day). Vaclav was converted to Christianity and became known for his charity. His statue pictured below is in Wenceslas Square in Prague.

While collections of carols frequently include this one (the illustration above is from Carols Old and Carols New, a 1916 collection of 751 carols for various seasons compiled by Charles Hutchins), books about carols don't think very highly of it.

Elizabeth Poston, in The Penguin Book of Christmas Carols (1965) calls it “(the) product of an unnatural marriage between Victorian whimsy and a thirteenth-century dance carol.” and goes on to say “Unfortunately Dr. Neale also felt the urge to express himself, though it is debatable whether the bizarre results would have become so well known in the present care, but for the doubtful service of their populations by Bramley and Stainer.”

William Studwell, in The Christmas Carol Reader (1995) piles on with “the lyrics are, quite honestly, on the horrible side, and have even received negative epithets such as 'doggerel.'”

As we have seen, however, the pronouncements of “learned” men and women don't always bear much weight when it comes to popularity. People will probably be singing of Good King Wenceslas for some time to come, doggerel or not.

Glad Tidings of Great Joy

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.

“Fear not!” it said, for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind;
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and humankind.

“To you, in Bethl'hem town, this day
Is born of David’s line
A Savior, who is Christ the Word,
And this shall be the sign:

The heavenly babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid.”

Thus spake the seraph and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels praising God, who thus
Addressed their joyful song:

“All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from heav’n to earth
Begin and never cease!”

Nahum Tate, 1700; alt.
Tune: WINCHESTER OLD (C.M.)
The Whole Book of Psalmes, 1592
arr. William H. Monk, 1861

This was the first Christmas hymn authorized to be sung in the Church of England. Prior to the eighteenth century, only psalm paraphrases were used in worship. Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady had published their New Version of the Book of Psalms in 1696, and in 1700 they issued a supplement, which included sixteen texts not based on the Psalms. This hymn is a paraphrase from the well-known nativity story in Luke 2:8-14. You may also know it from the first part of Handel's Messiah, from the soprano recitative There were shepherds abiding in the fields through the chorus Glory to God. (this sequence of text also opens the Christmas Oratorio of Camille Saint-Saëns). I think it may even be in A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Tate's hymn has remained in many hymnals since that time, though it may no longer be so near the top of the Christmas music list. It has been sung to several different tunes, including CHRISTMAS, arranged from a different Handel oratorio (you have to repeat the last line of each stanza), and this early American (and now unknown) tune.


One Year Ago: The World In Solemn Stillness Lay

Hymns In the News

Though, this time the year, it's always about the carols. This is actually a bit late, but you know how I feel about Christmas carols in Advent, and maybe you haven't heard about it anyway. Or, at least, not the whole story.

Earlier this month there were reports from various news outlets that the Anglican Bishop of Croydon, Nick Baines, “slams carols,” saying that he's “fed up with musical nonsense.” Some of the favorites that he reportedly dislikes include Away in a manger (though, presumably, sung to the tune that the English prefer) and O come, all ye faithful.

Digging a bit deeper, it turns out that the bishop has a blog of his own, where he has endeavored to explain the situation, which turns out to be somewhat different from the sensational headlines.

Bishop Baines has a new book on the shelves in his country, Why Wish You a Merry Christmas? which he calls “a strong affirmation of Christmas celebration.” He thinks that some carols (like Away in a manger) are just fine for children just learning the Christmas story, but that perhaps as adults we need to sing them “with our brains engaged.”

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes;
I love thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

This carol sentimentalizes the situation; the manger wasn't such a great place to be born. It's very unlikely that the infant Jesus didn't cry, waking up in a dark, cold, dirty place, lying in the scratchy straw amid the noises of animals. But it was completely intentional for God's child to be born fully human and vulnerable, to an unwed teenage mother, and not into the ruling class of the day, in a palace with nursemaids and a warm, comfortable bed. This seems to be Baines's message: Sing along with the sentiment, but remember the reality.

It looks to me like all the fuss started with a British journalist who was writing about the bishop's new book and pulled out the most provocative quotes without any context, and certainly without inviting comment from the author. What excitement! How absurd! Great headlines! And then it turns out to be a thoroughly reasonable argument after all.

The World In Solemn Stillness Lay

Massachusetts minister Edmund Hamilton Sears published his most famous hymn in the December 29, 1849 issue of the Christian Register, a popular Unitarian weekly magazine that is still published today as UU World. The following year the text was paired with a tune by Richard Storrs Willis and has since become one of the most familiar songs we sing at Christmas, even though it never specifically mentions the birth of Jesus.

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on earth, good will to all,
From heaven the news we bring."
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel-sounds
The blessed angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the heavenly strains have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And we, engaged in war, hear not
The tidings which they bring;
O hush the noise and cease your strife
And hear the angels sing!

O ye, beneath life's crushing load
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold,
When Peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Edmund Hamilton Sears, 1849; alt.
Tune: CAROL (C.M.D.)
Richard Storrs Willis, 1850

I never will forget encountering the words of the fourth verse (sometimes left out of modern hymnals) on a memorial panel of the NAMES Project quilt nearly twenty years ago.

Willis's tune was used for other hymn texts in the nineteenth century, though it's hard for us today to imagine it outside of Christmas. I think the strangest match I've seen is the Lenten hymn There is a green hill far away (only using the first two lines of this tune). This probably wouldn't bother the English, who sing It came upon... to the tune NOEL, a folk melody arranged by Arthur Sullivan.

The Annual Advent Debate

Not surprisingly, the debate already started in the comments section under Sunday's hymn.

Should we sing Christmas carols during the season of Advent?

I don't think so myself, though I know I'm outnumbered. If you followed the Advent link on Sunday's post you may have seen another link to the same question. Writer Dennis Bratcher covers the question pretty well, I think, particularly in this section:

It is only in commercial advertising that the Christmas season begins the first of December (or the first of August!). (...) Advent is the season of preparation for Christmas, not the celebration of it. It is included with Christmas the same way that Lent is included with Easter. However, Advent is just as different from Christmas as is Lent from Easter.

There are exceptions, of course. Some denominations don't have a long-standing Advent tradition; some hymnals may not really have enough explicitly Advent-themed hymns. I think special Christmas programs that happen before Christmas Eve are excepted also; people go to them expecting to hear or sing carols. But in worship, for those four Sundays, if you have the Advent material to use, you should use it. Naturally, in some places congregations are rediscovering Advent while others are casting it aside for the next musical trend.

The debate is going on elsewhere in blogland (in more places than I know about, I'm sure), and you can even vote on it.

Looking ahead to those carols, I was expounding on the dozen or so that everyone wants to sing at Christmas. In fact, the number was just one I made up on the spur of the moment but it turns out that I was pretty close. If you want to express your opinion on which carols make up that dozen (as well as the next five or six in line), check out the Christmas carol blog of commenter Leland Bryant Ross, who helped start the debate here. I've already done it myself.