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

Emma Mundella

Emma Mundella, a somewhat obscure British composer, died on this day in 1896, but her birth date in 1858 seems to be unknown.  She is described in Otto Ebel's Women Composers (1913) as "a highly gifted lady" who had written part-songs, piano pieces, and "some church music."  She also wrote an oratorio, Victory of Song, for female voices and strings which was published by Novello.

Among her music instructors were Arthur Sullivan and John Stainer, and she attended the Royal College of Music, becoming one of the first students to receive the Associate of the R.C.M. degree.

I mention her here because she was the editor of The Day School Hymn Book (1896)., which was also published by Novello.  She writes in the foreword that it was her aim to

...provide a Hymn Book for school use which should combine throughout an elevated tone of thought and feeling, both in the words and the music, with sufficient sympathy of ideas to make it acceptable to the young people for whom is is especially intended

Of course, dozens, if not hundreds, of other hymnbooks for the use of young persons had already claimed and would continue to express similar intentions.  At any rate, this book included hymns in German, Latin, and French in addition to many standard Church of England hymns.

In the foreword she also thanks her former teacher John Stainer for "his invaluable help and the unfailing interest he has shown throughout the preparation of this book." Stainer had provided her with a previously-unpublished tune by John Bacchus Dykes as well as composing six new tunes for the book.  

Twelve of Mundella's own tunes appear in the book (remember, the best way for women to get their tunes or texts into a hymnbook was to edit it themselves).  Several of these tunes are in unusual meters that would make them unlikely to be used today, but there are a few possibilities. Unfortunately, none of her tunes are available to hear online.  The Cyber Hymnal does not list Mundella at all, and Hymnary.org only acknowledges her as the editor of a hymnbook, without listing any of her tunes.  Maybe someday.

Sir John Stainer

Sir John Stainer (June 6, 1840 - March 31, 1901) was one of the most well-known English church musicians of his time. Though he wrote many hymn tunes, anthems and service music, not many of them are still in use today. His one enduring work was an oratorio, The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer (to give the full title), words by William J. Sparrow-Simpson, which was first performed on February 24, 1887, which was the day after Ash Wednesday. This work is still often performed by church choirs all over the world.

Of particular interest here is that there are six hymns interspersed between the choral movements, which were intended to be sung by the audience/congregation. At least two of the tunes of these hymns by Stainer have retained some life of their own, ALL FOR JESUS and CROSS OF JESUS.

But by far the most well-known section of The Crucifixion is God so loved the world, which has been sung by thousands of choirs who would never sing the entire work. The video below is the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, where Stainer both sang as a boy chorister, and served for many years as organist.



God so loved the world
That he gave his only-begotten Son
That whoso believeth, believeth in him
Should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world
But that the world through him might be saved.

John 3:16-17



Three Years Ago: Sir John Stainer

One Year Ago: Sir John Stainer

The Feast of All Saints

The saints of God! their conflict past,

And life’s long battle won at last,

No more they need the shield or sword,

They cast them down before their Lord:

O happy saints! forever blest,

At Jesus' feet how safe your rest!

The saints of God! their wand’rings done,

No more their weary course they run,

No more they faint, no more they fall,

No foes oppress, no fears appall:

O happy saints! forever blest,

In that dear home how sweet your rest!

The saints of God! life’s voyage o’er,

Safe landed on that blissful shore,

No stormy tempests now they dread,

No roaring billows lift their head:

O happy saints! forever blest,

In that calm haven of your rest!

O God of saints! to thee we cry;

O Savior! plead for us on high;

O Holy Spirit! Guide and Friend,

Grant us thy grace till life shall end;

That with the saints our rest may be

In that bright paradise with thee!

William Dalrymple Maclagan, 1869

Tune: BEATI (8.8.8.8.8.8.)

John Stainer, 1873

Two Years Ago: The Feast of All Saints

One Year Ago: The Feast of All Saints

Sir John Stainer

Composer John Stainer was born in London on this day 170 years ago. His father was a schoolmaster and good amateur musician and the young Stainer learned the piano and organ at a young age (there were reportedly five pianos in the house as well as a chamber organ).

He became a boy chorister at age eight at St. Paul's Cathedral and a few years later was playing the organ there on occasion. When Stainer was a teen, Frederick Gore Ouseley heard him play and invited him to be the organist at the music school Ouseley had established at Tenbury. During those years Stainer also attained a Bachelor of Music degree from Oxford University.

After receiving two more advanced music degrees (one for his oratorio Gideon in 1865) he returned to St. Paul's in the position of organist. He became renowned for improving musical standards at the cathedral during his tenure there. Stainer was also a government inspector of music training and visited elementary school training colleges, interviewing the students and evaluating the programs. He was knighted in 1888 for his many contributions to English music.

His compositions include forty-two anthems, four oratorios (including The Crucifixion, still performed today), service music for the Anglican church, organ works and vocal madrigals. His hymn tunes run to several dozen, at least (though not many are still sung), and he also edited The Church Hymnary for the Church of Scotland. Another book by Stainer still studied today is The Music of the Bible (1879), which looks like it might deserve more exploration.

This short morning hymn, set to one of Stainer's tunes, is by an English Methodist writer and may have first appeared in this country in Hymns of the Spirit (1864), the Unitarian hymnal compiled by Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson. It was retained in other Unitarian hymn collections into the twentieth century.

The light pours down from heaven
And enters where it may;
The hearts of all earth's children
Are cheered with each bright ray
So let the soul's true sunshine
Be spread o'er earth as free,
And fill our waiting spriits
As waters fill the sea.

Then let each human spirit
Enjoy the radiance bright;
The Truth which comes from heaven
Shall spread like heav'n's own light;
Till earth becomes God's temple,
And every human heart
Shall join in one great service,
Each happy in our part.

Joseph Gostock, 1849; alt.
Tune: JERUSALEM (7.6.7.6.D.)
John Stainer, 19th cent.

Two Years Ago: Sir John Stainer

P.S. I don't usually play this game, but if a movie was ever to be made of Stainer's life (ha!) I think he should be played by actor Dennis Franz (formerly Detective Sipowicz from NYPD Blue).

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.

Alexander Reinagle

Alexander Robert Reinagle (August 21, 1799 - April 6, 1877) was born into a musical family. His grandfather had been "trumpeter to the king" in Austria and his father was a cellist and friend of Haydn. His uncle, also named Alexander Robert, emigrated to the United States where he wrote instrumental pieces and much music for the theatre in Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Our Reinagle became an organist at St. Peter-in-the-East, Oxford in 1822 and remained in that post for more than twenty years. He was also much in demand as an organ teacher; John Stainer and Stainer's wife were both his pupils at one point. He wrote sacred music and two collections of hymn tunes:

Psalm Tunes for the Voice and Pianoforte (1830)
A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Chants, and other Music, as sung in the Parish Church of St. Peter's in the East, Oxford (1840)

This tune, which probably still appears in nearly every denominational hymnal today, originally appeared in Reinagle's first collection, where it was sung to a paraphrase of Psalm 118. In his second collection it was named ST. PETER, after his Oxford church, and it was he who harmonized it in the form we know it today for the first edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861).

Have mercy on us, God most high,
Who lift our hearts to thee;
Have mercy now, most merciful,
Most Holy Trinity.

When heaven and earth were yet unmade,
When time was yet unknown,
Thou, in thy bliss and majesty,
Didst live and love alone.

Thou wert not born; there was no fount
From which thy Being flowed
There is no end which thou canst reach
For thou art simply God.

How wonderful creation is,
The work thou didst bless;
And O, what then must thou be like,
Eternal Loveliness!

Most ancient of all mysteries!
Low at thy throne we lie;
Have mercy now, most merciful,
Most Holy Trinity.

Frederick W. Faber, 1849
Tune: ST. PETER (C.M.)
Alexander Reinagle, 1830

The upward leap on the second note of the tune is part of its distinctive appeal, I think; it's a forceful jump that makes the melody cry out, lending itself to texts of supplication (like this one). While you may never have sung this particular hymn, you probably know at least two other texts used with this tune (and maybe more). I think we will be seeing it again; it's almost surprising it hasn't come up before.

One Year Ago: Civilla Durfee Martin

Sir Frederick A. Gore Ouseley

Composer Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley (August 12, 1825 - April 6, 1889) was born in London, the son of a baronet. His interest in music began at an early age; he reportedly wrote an opera, L'isola disabitata (The Uninhabited Island) at the age of eight. He attended university at Christ Church, Oxford, eventually receiving a doctorate in music. He was ordained in the Church of England, and later served parishes while also gaining the position of professor of music at Oxford, and succeeding to his father's title.

When the choir of men and boys was disbanded at St. Barnabas Church, where he had briefly served as curate, he brought the boys together again and established a choir school at his own expense, where they received a general education as well as a musical one. He then built the church of St. Michael and All Angels in Tenbury on his own property, and joined the school (which he now named St. Michael's College) to that parish. Composer John Stainer, Ouseley's most renowned student, was the college organist for a few years. Ouseley established an extensive one-of-a-kind musical library there; the collection was transferred to the Bodleian Library at Oxford following the school's closing in 1985.

Ouseley became a prolific church composer, producing eleven morning and evening services, more than seventy anthems (O Saviour of the world being perhaps the longest-lived), numerous Anglican chants, and two oratorios; Hagar (1873) and The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp (1854). Naturally, he also composed several hymn tunes as well. His books on harmony, counterpoint, and musical form remained in print for many years.

Like most of his contemporaries, his music is not sung much in modern times; though several pieces are scattered across many CD collections of English church music I don't know of any discs devoted solely to him. This tune probably hasn't appeared in many hymnals in the last hundred years, though it is in the Standard Edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern (1916) which is still in print.

Spirit of mercy, truth and love,
O shed your influence from above,
And still from age to age convey
The wonders of this sacred day.

In every clime, by every tongue,
Be God’s amazing glory sung;
Let all the listening earth be taught
The wonders by our Savior wrought.

Unfailing Comfort, heavenly Guide,
Still o’er your holy church preside;
May humankind your blessings prove,
Spirit of mercy, truth and love.

London Foundling Hospital Collection, 1774
Tune: SHARON (L.M.)
Frederick A. Gore Ouseley, 1875

This hymn text by an unknown author is often sung to the somewhat dreary tune MELCOMBE, by Samuel Webbe, but I think SHARON is an improvement.

A biography of Ouseley was published in 1896 which contained a fairly extensive bibliography of his published musical works, but it was admitted that since he often composed pieces at the request of various publications and gave them away in manuscript, no complete listing was possible.

One Year Ago: Sir Joseph Barnby

Charles Hubert Hastings Parry

Today is the birthday of English composer Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (C.H.H., as his music was generally attributed, and apparently Hubert to his friends). Born in 1848, his interest in music was cultivated was first cultivated during his years at Oxford. However, he studied outside the college curriculum, with composer George Elvey, organist at St. George's Chapel. His first compositions were for Elvey's choir.

From Oxford, where he officially studied law and modern history, he became an insurance underwriter for Lloyds of London. He continued to study music on the side, and finally in 1880 his first major compositions appeared, a piano concerto and choral scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound. He contributed articles to the original Grove Dictionary of Music, and in 1884 became in instructor at the Royal College of Music. Later, he returned to Oxford as a professor of music, succeeding John Stainer.

Parry composed in many forms, including symphonies and concertos, but much of his music was vocal (art songs) and choral (oratorios, anthems, oratorios, and hymns). His most well-known work is probably the song Jerusalem, originally written to the words of a poem by William Blake for a womens' suffrage event and later sometimes used as a hymn, particularly in England. The familiar tune has also been used for other words, such as the modern hymn text by Carl P. Daw, O day of peace, that dimly shines.

Among Parry's other hymn tunes, this one is a favorite of mine, used here with a paraphrase of Psalm 149.

Sing praise unto God; proclaim a new song,
Amid all the saints God's praises prolong;
A song to your Maker and Ruler now raise,
All children of Zion, rejoice and give praise!

With timbrel and harp and joyful acclaim,
With gladness and mirth, we praise your great Name,
For here in your people great pleasure you seek,
With robes of salvation you cover the meek.

In glory exult, ye saints of the Lord;
With songs in the night, high praises accord;
Go forth in God's service, be strong in God's might,
To conquer oppression and stand for the right.

For this is God's Word: The saints shall not fail,
But over the earth their power shall prevail;
All kingdoms and nations shall yield to their sway.
To God give the glory! Sing praises for aye!

The Psalter, 1912; alt.
Tune: LAUDATE DOMINUM
C.H.H. Parry, 1894

Sir John Goss

John Goss was almost certainly named for St. John, on whose feast day the little Goss was born in 1800. His father, Joseph, was a church organist and the son eventually followed in this line.

Young John became a chorister at the Chapel Royal in 1811, and later studied music with composer and organist Thomas Attwood. He succeeded Attwood as the organist at St. Paul's Cathedral in 1838 and remained in that position for more than thirty years. He was also a Professor of Harmony at the Royal Academy of Music (a young Arthur Sullivan was one of his students), and was eventually knighted by Queen Victoria in 1872.

During these years he composed mostly church music (anthems, chants, and hymn tunes), though he also produced incidental music for a play, The Sergeant's Wife (sometimes described as an opera, but probably not), and some orchestral music.

His most familiar hymn tune is LAUDA ANIMA, generally sung with Praise, my soul, the King of heaven. My own favorite Goss tune was always ARMAGEDDON, though in recent years I've learned that he only provided the standard arrangement of this tune that was actually written by German composer C. Luise Reichardt. Previously on the blog we have heard Goss's BEVAN. Today we continue in the Christmas spirit with an almost-forgotten song that first appeared with a tune by Goss in Christmas Carols New and Old (1871), collected by John Stainer.

See, amid the winter's snow,
Born for us on earth below,
See the tender Lamb appears,
Promised from eternal years.

Refrain
Hail, thou ever-blessed morn!
Hail, redemption's happy dawn!
Sing through all Jerusalem,
Christ is born in Bethlehem!

Lo, within a manger lies
One who built the starry skies;
One, who throned in height sublime
Sits amid the cherubim.
Refrain

Say, ye holy shepherds, say
What your joyful news today;
Wherefore have ye left your sheep
On the lonely mountain steep?
Refrain

"As we watched at dead of night,
Lo, we saw a wondrous light;
Angels singing peace on earth
Told us of the Savior's birth."
Refrain

Teach, O teach us, Holy Child,
By thy face so meek and mild,
Teach us to resemble thee,
In thy sweet humility!
Refrain

Edward Caswall, 1858; alt.
Tune: HUMILITY (7.7.7.7. with refrain)
John Goss, 1871

I say "almost-forgotten" but it's probably someone's favorite somewhere. There are actually dozens, possibly hundreds, of really forgotten Christmas hymns, carols, and songs in the hymnals of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We like the standards.

Sir John Stainer

Composer John Stainer was born on this day in 1840. During his life he held many musical positions both in and out of the Church of England, though most of his works (many listed here) are sacred music. Today he is probably best known for his oratorio The Crucifixion, performed by countless church choirs on Good Friday since its first appearance in 1887.

You may not know that he was musical editor of Christmas Carols New and Old in 1871, a very popular collection whose arrangements are still widely used today. He was also the musical editor of The Church Hymnary (1898), a hymnal produced by a collection of denominations in Scotland, and several of his 158 hymn tunes appeared there for the first time.

The following Stainer tune comes from The Crucifixion. If you've ever sung it or attended a performance, you probably remember that the choral and solo parts of the Passion story are interspersed with six hymns which are supposed to be sung by the combined chorus and audience/congregation. Unfortunately, this practice seems to be dying out; last year when I sang the work for the first time, the audience was only invited to sing the final hymn (with possibly the most familiar tune, CROSS OF JESUS), and the conductor directed the chorus in overly-fussy renditions of the other hymns during the performance. But I like this tune also and hardly think it's beyond the capability of any congregation.

Joys are flowing like a river
Since the Comforter has come;
She abides with us forever,
Makes the trusting heart her home.

Like the rain that falls from heaven,
Like the sunlight from the sky,
So the Holy Spirit's given,
Coming to us from on high.

See, a fruitful field is growing,
Blessed fruit of righteousness;
And the streams of life are flowing
In the lonely wilderness.

Bringing life and health and gladness
All around, this heav'nly Guest
Banished unbelief and sadness,
Changed our weariness to rest.

What a wonderful salvation,
Where we'll always see God's face!
What a perfect habitation,
What a quiet resting place!

Manie P. Ferguson, c.1897; alt.
Tune: ALL FOR JESUS (8.7.8.7.) - sometimes called OXFORD
John Stainer, 1887

A brief digression from Stainer: some may recognize this hymn from somewhere else - it was originally the gospel song Blessed Quietness. I like the words but find the usual tune less than inspiring. Leaving out the refrain, the words fit nicely into this tune. Since the Holy Spirit is sometimes depicted as female in modern theology I also changed a few pronouns. Manie Ferguson, who founded with her husband a mission project in California (later expanded elsewhere) dedicated to ministry to single women, could be another entry in my More Voices Found series (click on the tag below to bring up the previous entries). There's a contemporary hymn of the Spirit that also goes well with this tune and is worth seeking out: Spirit, working in creation (1978) by John Richards.

Back to Stainer: I've been poking around in nineteenth century hymnals and trying to see an many of his tunes as possible but I'm sure I haven't found 158 yet. I'm also curious to know more about the other two oratorios, The Daughter of Jairus and St. Mary Magdalen.

Stainer had five children. A descendant of Sir John has posted several family photographs online. His daughter-in-law Rosalind Stainer (married to his youngest son Edward) wrote one hymn tune (BETHSAIDA - no sound file online, alas) that appeared in the English Methodist Hymn-Book of 1904 and others. Rosalind was the daughter of Sir Frederick Bridge, another English composer. Another Voice Found.