Christian Christmas carols have carried the message of Christ’s birth across centuries, cultures, and continents. They remain a relentless favourite to sing in homes and churches, sometimes by candlelight.
These hymns are cherished for a reason, because every time we hear them they remind us many times of the constant hope, joy and lightweight of Christ’s coming to this dark world.
Each carol has its own interesting story that adds to the enjoyment of singing them. Here are a couple of to enjoy this Christmas:
1. “Silent Night”
The lyrics for Silent Night were written in 1816 within the small Austrian village of Oberndorf. While the hymn itself is all about peace, it actually emerged from something of a panic.
According to tradition, the organ at St Nicholas Church had broken just before Christmas Eve 1818, meaning there could be no music for the service.
The organ could have been out of motion however the church’s resourceful young priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had the thought of asking the church’s musician, Franz Xaver Gruber, to set a poem of his to guitar music as an alternative. The two performed Silent Night for the primary time in the course of the Christmas Eve midnight mass in 1818, with Mohr on the guitar, and all was calm and brilliant once more.
From those humble beginnings, Silent Night has since been translated into greater than 300 languages and is particularly popular with kid’s choirs.
2. “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
The origins of this triumphant classic are a bit mysterious. The earliest known manuscript comes from the mid-1700s and has long been attributed to John Francis Wade, an English Catholic layman exiled to France after the failed Jacobite rising of 1745, although some scholars imagine the melody could have older roots.
At the very least, Wade is widely credited with bringing the carol to print. Originally produced in Latin, it later gained traction in Anglican churches after an English translation began to spread within the nineteenth century.
Today it’s a preferred anthem of joy and invitation to Christians of all denominations as they have a good time the approaching of their Saviour.
3. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
This beloved carol began life as an 18th-century hymn by Charles Wesley, the brother of Methodist founder John Wesley and a prolific hymn author.
The opening line that everyone knows and love today was not what Wesley originally wrote. His original opening was actually “Hark, how all of the welkin rings!” – “welkin” meaning “the heavens”.
In 1753, preacher George Whitefield modified this to offer us the memorable and barely more singable line that we sing today: “Hark! The herald angels sing.”
The lyrics weren’t set to the now famous melody until 1855, when musician William H Cummings adapted the second chorus of Felix Mendelssohn’s Festgesang.
4. “O Holy Night”
Like so many hymns and carols, this timeless beauty is the work of a couple of person – and was not without some controversy when it first appeared.
Back in 1847, a French parish priest asked poet Placide Cappeau to jot down a Christmas poem. His creation was then set to the music of composer Adolphe Adam.
All well and good surely? Well, not exactly, because it turned out that Cappeau was not particularly religious, while Adam was a Jew. And this didn’t go down well with French Church leaders on the time. Despite the Church officially distancing itself from the hymn, this could not dampen its popularity.
The carol isn’t only historical, it has itself helped to make history, being a part of the primary ever radio broadcast by Reginald Fessenden in 1906.
5. “Joy to the World”
Though Joy to the World is now a Christmas favourite, it wasn’t actually written about Jesus’ birth in any respect. Isaac Watts wrote the lyrics in 1719 as a paraphrase of Psalm 98 and intended to be a celebration of God’s kingship and the approaching reign of Christ, not the Nativity.
The tune most of us know today got here much later, being arranged by Lowell Mason in 1839. Mason adapted motifs from Handel’s works, giving the hymn a brilliant and regal tone.
Over time, Christians embraced it as a Christmas hymn because its triumphant theme hailing that “the Lord is come” fit naturally with the enjoyment of Christmas and the Incarnation. It reminds us that Christmas isn’t only the story of Christ’s arrival within the manger, however the promise of His coming reign over all creation.
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