Wacky Anne's Christmas Music Room: Traditional Carols III

To go straight to a particular traditional Christmas carol, click on the title above. Once you get to the lyrics, click on the song title to hear it played as well. Alternate and optional text is placed within (parenthesis). The refrain is in italics, sing it when you see Refrain.

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
American carol; E. Sears, R. Willis

Written in December, 1849 by a Unitarian minister from New England, Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810-1876). He asked his friend from Boston, Richard Storrs Willis (1819-1900), to compose a melody for it. The writing of this carol represents the emerging acceptance of Christmas in New England as a "holiday", previously prohibited by the Puritans.

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 the earth, good-will to men, 
From heav'n's all-gracious King!
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

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

Yet with the woes of sin and strife 
The world (hath/has) suffered long; 
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled 
Two thousand years of wrong; 
And man, at war with man, hears not 
The love-song which they bring: 
O hush the noise, ye men of strife, 
And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on, 
By prophet-bards foretold, 
When, with the ever-circling years, 
Shall come the Age of Gold; 
When peace shall over all the earth 
Its ancient splendors fling, 
And all the world give back the song 
Which now 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 the new heav'n and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace their King,
And the whole world send back the song 
Which now the angels sing).

Jingle Bells
J. Pierpont

The words and music of this secular winter carol were written in 1857 by American Unitarian clergyman and poet, John Pierpont (1785-1866).

Dashing through the snow,
in a one-horse open sleigh.
O'er the fields we go,
laughing all the way.
Bells on bob-tail ring,
making spirits bright.
What fun (it is) to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride 
in a one-horse open sleigh! 
(twice)

A day or two ago,
I thought I'd take a ride,
And soon Miss Fanny Bright 
Was seated by my side.
The horse was lean and lank,
Misfortune seemed his lot.
He got into a drifted bank,
And we got (upset/upsot).

Refrain

A day or two ago,
the story I must tell.
I went out on the snow 
And on my back I fell; 
A gent was riding by 
In a one-horse open sleigh
He laughed as there 
I sprawling lie
But quickly drove away

Refrain

Now the ground is white,
go it while you're young.
Take the girls tonight,
and sing this sleighing song.
Just get a bob-tailed bay, 
Two-forty (for/as) his speed,
Then hitch him to an open sleigh,
and crack! you'll take the lead!

Refrain

Joy To the World

Reverend Isaac Watts (1674-1748), who earned the title of Father of Hymnody by writing over 750 hymns and paraphrases of the Psalms for church use, was inspired to paraphrase Psalm 98 to create this carol. It appeared in The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. In 1830, these words were matched to several of the musical passages from George Frederic Handel's "Messiah" by American composer Lowell Mason.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let Earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room, 
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the (world/earth)! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ; 
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders of His love!

O Little Town of Bethlehem

The verse is by an American Episcopal bishop, Dr. Phillip Brooks (1835-1893). He was inspired by a trip he took to the Holy Land over Christmas, 1865. Three years later he wrote the words for the hymn for the children in his Sunday school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The music was written by the church organist, Lewis H. Redner (1831-1908), that same year.

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee (lie/light).
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark street (shining/shineth),
The everlasting light,
The hopes and fears of all the years,
Are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary, 
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
their watch of wond'ring love. 
O morning stars, together 
proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King,
and peace to men on Earth.

How silently, how silently
the wondrous gift is giv'n!
so God imparts to human hearts
the blessings of His heav'n. 
No ear may hear His coming,
But in (the/this) world of sin;
where meek souls will receive Him still,
the dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
descend to us, we pray,
cast out our sin, and enter in, 
be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
(Es ist ein Ros')

The author of lyrics of this early 15th Century German carol is lost in antiquity. Theodore Baker translated the first two stanzas in 1894, and the last two were translated by Harriet Reynolds Krauth (1845-1925). The melody comes from Alte Catholische Geistliche Kirchengesäng (1599). Harmony was added by Michael Praetorius in 1609. You may recognize the tune also as A Great and Mighty Wonder.

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;
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. 

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. 

This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere;
True man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us,
And lightens every load.

Silent Night
(Stille Nacht)

Words and music by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber.

On Christmas Eve, 1818 in the little town of Oberndorf in the Austrian Alps, Father Joseph Mohr, a Catholic Priest, was inspired to write this song. He gave the words to his friend Franz Gruber, the village schoolmaster and church organist. They weren't able to play it on the organ, which was broken, so it was composed on the guitar. They sung it that night in the church for the first time. Next year when the organ was repaired, Gruber tested it by playing Silent Night. The repairman was so moved by the song that he asked for a copy to take to his village across the mountains. Ten years later at a fair in Leipzig, the same repairman heard the "Strasser Quartet", which was composed of four young girls, two of whom had been at the first performance. They, along with other roving groups of Tyrolese singers, ended up popularizing Silent Night throughout Austria and Germany.

It was first printed in 1842. Twelve years later it was performed by a full choir before Emperor Frederick William IV in the Imperial Church in Berlin, establishing it nationally as a classical hymn for all time. A bishop in Florida translated it in 1863, introducing it to North America. It has since been translated into more than seventy languages around the world and has become the most famous carol of all.

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,
Glory streams from heaven afar,
Heavenly 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 Twelve Days of Christmas
Traditional English

Midi length: 218s (3:38)

In the middle ages, religious holidays were virtually the only holidays, so everyone was eager to extend such celebrations as long as possible. Christmas in particular was extended from a one day event to 12 days from Christmas Day to the Epiphany. In wealthy castles, a gift on each of the 12 days was quite common. This made "The Twelve Days of Christmas" a very popular song in anticipation of the gifts to come. It is not certain how old this carol is, but it probably dates back as far as the 16th century.

On the first day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me:
A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me:
Two turtledoves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

third day: Three French hens
fourth day: Four calling birds
fifth day: Five golden rings
sixth day: Six geese a-laying
seventh day: Seven swans a-swimming
eighth day: Eight maids a-milking
ninth day: Nine ladies dancing
tenth day: Ten lords a-leaping
eleventh day: Eleven pipers piping
twelfth day: Twelve drummers drumming

My Christmas Music Room: Christmas Carols

Traditional, Continued Two