Another famous Christmas carol is Carol of the Bells.
This music for this song comes from the Ukraine, and used to be a song about spring time and happy birds.
Long ago in the Ukraine, the new year was in April, so the new year's celebration was in the spring.
When the people of the Ukraine became Christians, they moved the new year's celebration to the winter.
The song about birds in the cold didn't make much sense, so someone wrote this song about Christmas and used the same music.
The words were written by Peter Wilhousky, an American whose family had come to America from the Ukraine long ago.
Another famous Christmas carol is Good King Wenceslas.
This song is was written about an old story of a king and his helper who went out during cold winter snowy weather and help take care of poor people.
Around 930 AD, Wenceslas was the Duke of Bohemia which is now called the Czech Republic, and the story says he did this during the Feast of Stephen, which is on December 26th, and is meant to honor the apostle Stephen from the Bible.
The words for the song wer writen in 1853 by John Mason Neale from England, and the music came from another old song from 1582 in Finland called "Tempus adest floridum" which means "Eastertime has come".
Lyrics:
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, tho’ the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gath’ring winter fuel.
“Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know’st 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 flesh, and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither:
Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither.”
Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together;
Through the rude 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, good my page. Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage freeze thy 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, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.
We just learned about the Christmas carol The First Noel.
Another famous Christmas carol is Angels We Have Heard on High.
This song started out as a French Christmas carol called "Les Anges dans nos campagnes" which means "The angels in our countryside" taht was written in 1843.
In 1862 a church leader in England named James Chadwich wrote them in English, and the music that goes with it came from an old French tune called "Gloria".
The chorus of this song is "Gloria in excelsis Deo", and it is Latin for "Glory to God in the Highest" which comes from the Gospel of Luke in the Bible.
Lyrics:
Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er the plains
And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be? Which inspire your heavenly songs?
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
This song was written long ago and first put into a songbook around 1823.
The word Noel was first spelled as "Nowell", and the word comes from the Latin word for birth.
In French the word Noël was used to mean the birth of Jesus and the Christmas season.
This song tells the story of the angels telling the shepherds about Jesus, and about the wise men who followed the star to see Jesus.
The First Noel, the Angels 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.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel Born is the King of Israel!
They looked 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.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel Born is the King of Israel!
And by the light of that same star Three Wise men came from country far
To seek for a King was their intent And to follow the star wherever it went.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel Born is the King of Israel!
This star drew nigh to the northwest O'er Bethlehem it took its rest
And there it did both Pause and stay Right o'er the place where Jesus lay.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel Born is the King of Israel!
Then entered in those Wise men three Full reverently upon their knee
And offered there in His presence Their gold and myrrh and frankincense.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel Born is the King of Israel!
Then let us all with one accord Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made Heaven and earth of nought And with his blood mankind has bought.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel Born is the King of Israel!
Another famous Christmas song is God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, also called Tidings of Comfort and Joy.
This song is very old, and has been found in song books going back before the year 1700 AD.
No one is really sure who wrote the song, but it became very famous after Charles Dickens had it as part of his book A Christmas Carol, where Ebeneezer Scrooge hears carolers singing this and chases them away.
One interesting thing about this song is that the old meaning of "God rest ye merry gentlemen" really meant something like "May God give rest and happiness to the gentlemen", but now these days we think of it more like "May God give rest to the happy gentlemen".
The difference all came when someone moved the comma in the sentence:
Old: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
New: God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen
Another famous Christmas song is Joy to the World.
This was written by Isaac Watts in 1719 in England.
Watts was famous for writing over 750 hymns, and this was another that he wrote for his church services.
One different thing about this Christmas song, is that it isn't really about Christmas!
The song is about when Jesus will come back from heaven again some day and there will be joy in the world.
The music for the song comes from Lowell Mason in 1848.
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! 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.
No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found.
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.
Another famous Christmas song is It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.
This song came from a poem written by a church leader named Edmund Sears in Massachusetts in 1850.
Sears asked his friend Richard Storrs to write the music for it, since he worked for the church writing hymns.
When Sears wrote this, there was a war going on between America and Mexico, and Sears was sad that people were fighting.
So he wrote this song hoping to get people to think about the message that the angels gave to the shepherds, about peace on the earth and goodwill to men.
Some of the verses are not very happy and talk about war or the pain or hard work, so some people skip those verses when they print out the songs,
but the message of Sears was really for those people to hopefully stop fighting and being sad and think about good things like heaven and angels.
Lyrics:
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, goodwill to men, From heaven'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 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 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.
And 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 prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years Comes round the age of gold
When peace shall over all the earth Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song Which now the angels sing.
Another famous Christmas song is O Come, O Come, Emmanuael.
This is a very old song, going back all the way to before the year 600 AD.
The words for the song were first written in Latin, in an old song called O Antiphons, that was sung by Monks around Christmas time.
The music for the song was written into a book around 1851 in England, but people think that song was first written hundreds of years before some time in France.
In 1861 an English priest named John Mason Neale translated the words from Latin into English and put it into hymnals for people to sing.
So it is a very very old song, and has become famous all over the world as a Christmas song!
One famous thing about the song is that each verse starts with a different name for Jesus, like Emmanuel, Rod of Jesse, Dayspring from on high, Key of David, and Adonai.
O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save, And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high, And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Adonai, Lord of might, Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times didst give the law In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Another famous Christmas song is O Little Town of Bethlehem.
The words for this song were written by a priest named Phillip Brooks in Philadelphia, after he traveled to Israel and saw the town of Bethlehem.
When he came back home he told the church organist Lewis Redner to write the music for it to be played a week later.
Redner didn't work on it all week and went to sleep Saturday night after not even writing a single note.
He said later that he woke up late in the night like he had an angel whispering in his ear, and he quickly grabbed some paper and wrote down the melody for the music.
The next morning he wrote the harmony part for the music on the way to church, and after that it was printed in a book called The Church Porch and became famous.
We just learned about the Christmas song O Holy Night.
Another famous Christmas song is O Come All Ye Faithful.
This song was first wrirten in Latin, and was called "Adeste Fidelis" which means "All Ye Faithful".
No one is really sure who wrote the words or music for this song.
A bunch of different copies of it have been found in countries like England and Portugal, and no one is really sure who wrote it first.
In 1841 the priest Frederick Oakeley wrote it in English, and those are pretty close to the words and music we use today.
The song in Latin:
Adeste fideles læti triumphantes, Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte Regem angelorum: Venite adoremus (3×) Dominum.
Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine Gestant puellæ viscera
Deum verum, genitum non factum. Venite adoremus (3×) Dominum.
Cantet nunc io, chorus angelorum; Cantet nunc aula cælestium,
Gloria, gloria in excelsis Deo, Venite adoremus (3×) Dominum.
Ergo qui natus die hodierna. Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Patris æterni Verbum caro factum. Venite adoremus (3×) Dominum.
The song in English:
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant! O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him Born the King of Angels: O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord.
God of God, light of light, Lo, he abhors not the Virgin's womb;
Very God, begotten, not created O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord.
Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation, Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above!
Glory to God, glory in the highest: O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord.
Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning; Jesus, to thee be glory given!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing! O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord.
The words for this song were first written in 1843 by a French poet named Placide Cappeau.
In Roquemare France the church organ had been fixed, and the priest asked Placide to write a poem to celebrate.
In French the poem started with the words "Minuit, chrétiens! c'est l'heure solennelle" which means "Midnight, Christians, is the solemn hour".
In 1847 a musician named Adolphe Adam wrote the music to go with the poem.
After it became famous in France, it was later written in English by John Sullivan Dwight in 1855.
The song was very popular in parts of America during the Civil War with people who thought slavery was bad,
because of the words from the song: "Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother,"
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining, It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth;
Long lay the world in sin and error pining, 'Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices! O night divine! O night when Christ was born.
O night, O holy night, O night divine.
Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming; With glowing hearts by his cradle we stand:
So, led by light of a star sweetly gleaming, Here come the wise men from Orient land,
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger, In all our trials born to be our friend;
He knows our need, To our weakness no stranger! Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King! your King! before him bend!
Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is Love and His gospel is Peace;
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, And in his name all oppression shall cease,
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful Chorus raise we; Let all within us praise his Holy name!
Christ is the Lord, then ever! ever praise we! His pow'r and glory, evermore proclaim!
His pow'r and glory, evermore proclaim!
Another famous Christmas song is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
This was first written by Charles Wesley in 1739 in England.
When Wesley first wrote it, he called it "Hark! how all the welkin rings", where the word welkin means sky.
In 1840 another person changed it to the words Hark! The Herald Angels Sing that we know of today.
The tune for the song is from the famous composer Felix Mendelssohn's music called Festgesang.
Hark! The herald-angels sing "Glory to the newborn king;
Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim "Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald-angels sing "Glory to the new-born king"
Christ, by highest heaven adored Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold Him come Offspring of a Virgin's womb:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald-angels sing "Glory to the newborn King"
Hail the Heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings;
Mild He lays His glory by Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing "Glory to the new-born king"
We just learned about the Christmas song We Three Kings.
Another famous Christmas song is Away in a Manger.
For a very long time, people thought that the words for this song were written in 1883 by Martin Luther, and it was even sometimes called Luther's Cradle Song.
But after going back and looking at the writing, people now think that the words were first written in English somewhere earlier in America, and then later translated to German.
There are two popular tunes that people sing this song to.
The one that is most popular in America was wrriten by James R. Murray in 1887.
The other one that is more popular in Britan was written by William J. Kirkpatrick.
Another famous Christmas song is We Three Kings, also called Three Kings of Orient, or The Quest of the Magi.
It was written in 1857 in New York by John Henry Hopkins Jr.
Hopkins was working as a church leader in Pennsylvania, and wrote the song for a Christmas pageant, based on the story in the book of Matthew chapter 2.
In the pageant he had each wise man sing one verse, and then all three would sing the final verse.
The Bible doesn't actually say there were three kings, it just says there were three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
It also doesn't say who the kings were, but later on in church history people think the wise men were named Gaspard, Melchior and Balthazar.
After the pageant it was just a song that his family and friends would sing together at Christmas time, but they all liked it so much he later decided to have it printed in a book of carols in 1916.
It then became famous all over the world, and was one of the first famous Christmas songs that was created in America.
Lyrics:
[Sung by All] We Three Kings of Orient are, Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Field and fountain, Moor and mountain, Following yonder Star.
CHORUS: O Star of Wonder, Star of Night, Star with Royal Beauty bright, Westward leading, Still proceeding, Guide us to Thy perfect Light.
[Sung by Gaspard] Born a King on Bethlehem plain, Gold I bring to crown Him again, King for ever, Ceasing never Over us all to reign.
[CHORUS]
[Sung by Melchior] Frankincense to offer have I, Incense owns a Deity nigh: Prayer and praising All men raising, Worship Him God on High.
[CHORUS]
[Sung by Balthazar] Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering gloom; Sorrowing, sighing, Bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone-cold tomb.
[CHORUS]
[Sung by All] Glorious now behold Him arise, King, and God, and Sacrifice; Heav’n sings Hallelujah: Hallelujah the earth replies.
[CHORUS]
We just learned about the Lift High the Cross, by Joseph Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber in 1818 in Austria.
One of the most famous Christmas songs is Silent Night.
The German name for this song is "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht".
Mohr had written the song as a poem, and wanted Gruber to write the music to go with it for a Christmas church service.
A river had flooded the church and the organ didn't work anymore, so Gruber wrote music for the guitar.
It was later written in English in 1859 in New York City.
One time on a Christmas Eve in 1914 when British and German soldiers were at war, both sides stop fighting for one night and sang Silent Night in English or Stille Nacht in German, and went out to meet each other on the battlefield in peace.
It was called the Christmas Truce of 1914.
Another famous hymn is In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend in Ireland in 2001.
The writers Getty and Townend both grew up in Ireland. Both of their fathers were church leaders, and they both grew up learning music.
They met in 2000 and decided to work together to write a song with a new sound that helped tell the story of Jesus.
With their song they wanted to write something that people liked to sing, so that in church people would worship together and help them grow as a congregation of Christians.
Another famous hymn is Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, also called The Heavenly Vision, written by Helen Lemmel in 1922.
Helen Lemmel was born in England, and moved to America when she was 12.
She was the daughter of a pastor, and grew up learning music and studying the Bible.
Helen heard a poem called "Focused" that was written by Isabella Lilias Trotter.
After she read it, she went right awand wrote the music for this song, and other verses to make the hymn.
Another famous Hymn is What a Friend We Have in Jesus written by Joseph Scriven in 1855, with the music written in 1868 by Charles Crozat Converse.
Scriven was born in Ireland in 1819, and when he was 25 years old he moved to Canada.
His mother stayed back home and got very sick, so he wrote her a poem called "Pray Without Ceasing".
Converse was born in Massachusetts in 1832, and wrote many church songs.
He read Scriven's poem and came up with the musical tune for the hymn and renamed it What a Friend We Have in Jesus.
A lot of famous musicians like Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and Aretha Franklin all made recordings of themselves with this hymn.
It has also been translated into other languages, like "Itsukushimi Fukaki" in Japanese, "Yesus Kawan yang Sejati" in Indonesian, and "Yeshu kaisa dost pyara" in Hindi.
Another famous hymn is Crown Him with Many Crowns written in 1851 in England.
The first 6 verses of the song were first written by Matthew Bridges who was a priest from Essex England.
Later on a different priest named Godfrey Thring added 6 more verses for a total of 12.
The music for the tune came from a song called Diademata by Sir George Job Elvey, a musician from England.
Diademata comes from the latin word for crowned or haloed.
