Christmas 2015 - O Come, All Ye Faithful

In following the liturgical calendar for Christians, this posting marks the change from the four Sundays of Advent to the observance of Christmas. Today the Christ Candle, the fifth and final one, is lit. It is white to represent the purity found in the personhood of Jesus.

I have selected that very familiar carol, “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” to receive the focus for this posting. Personally, I always used it on the fourth Sunday of Advent or, when Christmas fell on Sunday, on that day itself.

Before a closer look at the text, I’ll present something of the history of this hymn. But even before that, here’s a brief explanation on the difference between a “carol” and a “hymn.”

Originally, hymns were poems meant to be sung to some tune in worship. They started as metrical (rhythmic feel) texts with rhyming patterns with a central theme of praising God. Then, around the time of Isaac Watts, hymns began to broaden in scope and take on New Testament themes. In other words, they started presenting aspects of the Gospel, the life and work of Jesus.

A carol is just a more specific version of a hymn with a more festive nature to them. By this I mean that they were related more to a specific season of the year, a festival time. Hence, it is possible to have Christmas carols as well as Eastern carols. Another difference is that carols were sung at times other than just in corporate worship; they were used at other occasions in which the sharing of their religious nature was commonly regarded as appropriate. For instance, the singing of “Silent Night” or other carol at a gathering of friends for a Christmas party.

So, yes, the religious songs of the Christmas season could be considered hymns or carols. By referring to a text as a carol just implies that it is a seasonally-oriented text and not intended for general use throughout the rest of the church year.

Which brings me to one hybrid — “Joy to the World.” While this is traditionally sung at Christmas, this hymn is actually a paraphrase of Psalm 98. Isaac Watts, the author, published it in his Psalms of David Imitated (1719) under the heading “The Messiah's Coming and Kingdom.” The paraphrase is Watts’ Christological interpretation.

Now, back to the history of “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” The text for this carol originated in the Latin. All we know of it’s author is the name, James Frances Wade, who was probably a Roman Catholic. The opening words in Latin are: Adeste fideles.

His hymn was translated by more than a couple of people with the most popular translations coming from the pen of Frederick Oakley, a graduate of Oxford. Though Oakley began his ministerial life in the Church of England, he later left it to become a priest in the Roman Church.

The tune associated exclusively with this text was formerly known as PORTUGUESE HYMN because it was often sung in the chapel of the Portuguese embassy in London. Later the opening words of the Latin were adopted as the tune’s name, ADESTE FIDELIS. It’s assumed that since the tune was found in a manuscript with the text, dated in the mid-eighteenth century, Wade both wrote the text and composed the tune. Hymnologist Paul Westermeyer notes that this tune, with the repetition of the last line, and the irregular 8.7.8.7.4.7 meter, was well known by 1744 and connected only to this text.

The text uses that word used throughout the Advent season; come. However, instead of longing for the coming of the Messiah, the word is used to implore us to come and worship the Savior. We are invited, as God’s faithful people, to go to Bethlehem and adore Christ the Lord (stanza one). The second stanza uses words borrowed from the Nicene Creed to express the Christian faith about the incarnation. Many hymnals publishes by non-liturgical denominations, omit this verse, however. Verse three exerts the angels to sing their praise. Finally, we greet Christ on his birthday (stanza four) and praise him as the Word made flesh, the opening theme of the Gospel of John. 

The text has two unusual features for such a popular hymn: It is unrhymed and, technically, has an irregular meter. As a result “pickup” notes are used in verse one in two places. The refrain, of course, repeats this pattern.

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. The birth of a Savior is big news. It is a time to be festive indeed!

Advent 2015 - 04 - Once in Royal David’s City

This Sunday, December 20, the fourth advent candle will be lit. It is visibly obvious that Christmas, when tie white candle will be lit, is very near. Some churches will have Christmas Eve services and light the final candle then. Others will have services that start at midnight on December 25 and light the candle then. Traditions and customs are just that, traditions and customs. The important thing is not to worship the tradition but to meditate on the reason of the custom.

The Christmas hymn I’m presenting today has become one of my favorites. I recall “discovering” it for myself when I first encountered it as a teenager in my own church’s hymnal which was published in 1956. Not until the last few years have I looked more closely at the text and tune. As a result of that investigation it has come to be one of my favorites.

The text, as penned by the female author, originally consisted of six verses. One of the verses, however, was viewed as wandering from the core value of the other five verses and has, since it’s first publishing, been reproduced in only one hymnal. Though composed in 1848, not until the last quarter century has this carol found popular acceptance in a broad array of denominational hymnary.

Following are the five verses of text that are available for publication.

Once in royal David’s city

stood a lowly cattle shed,

where a mother laid her baby

in a manger for his bed:

Mary was that mother mild,

Jesus Christ, her little child.

He came down to earth from heaven

who is God and Lord of all;

and his shelter was a stable,

and his cradle was a stall:

with the poor, and meek, and lowly

lived on earth our Savior holy.

Jesus is our childhood’s pattern,

day by day like us he grew;

he was little, weak, and helpless,

tears and smiles like us he knew:

and he feels for all our sadness,

and he shares in all our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see him,

through his own redeeming love,

for that child, so dear and gentle,

is our Lord in heaven above:

and he leads his children on

to the place where he has gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable

with the oxen standing by

we shall see him, but in heaven,

set at God’s right hand on high;

there his children gather round,

bright like stars, with glory crowned.

Though five verses exist for publication, most hymnals present only four verses; an editorial decision to save space as shown below.

Now, a closer look at the text. The meter for the first four lines is 8.7.8.7. For three of the verses the meter ends with two lines of seven syllables each; 7.7. However, for the second and third verses that pattern is broken with the addition of one syllable for each line making the meter conclude as 8.8.

On closer examination of the text we may see the reason for this oddity. Cecil Frances Alexander (nee Humphrey) wrote the text to assist in explaining portions of the Apostle’s Creed. It was one of thirteen poems wholly dedicated for instruction with respect to that Creed. In each she uses some scriptural allusions. In this text those references come from a few verses in the Gospel of Luke and one in John 14 (verse four of the text). Perhaps she found it too difficult to find single-syllable words that would rhyme and, at the same time, provide adequate meaning.

Continued observation will also reveal that the author flips between the historical information to making application for “today” even while leading to the fifth verse that looks forward to where “there his children gather round, bright like stars, with glory crowned.”

This hymn also meets the standards for being a “gospel” song because, indeed, it references the life and saving work of Jesus the Savior. This is The Gospel, a witness of the Life of Christ and not a genré or stylistic trend.

The verse commonly dropped from use is the original third stanza. That text is as follows.

And through all His wondrous childhood

he would honor and obey,

love and watch the lowly maiden

in whose gentle arms he lay:

Christian children all must be

mild, obedient, good as he.

Depending on your viewpoint, you may see why it is omitted; it extols mildness and quiet obedience in children – qualities which are not emphasized today. In our street language of today we may say: “What’s up with that?” It begs the question regarding discipline and the psyche of the child.

The entire text divides the original six stanzas into three pairs. The first pair tells what happened. The second pair, though often altered or deleted, describes one perspective on the undocumented years of Jesus’ life, when He was a child before the onset of His earthly ministry. This theme was appropriate to the original audience for this hymn – children. The third pair looks forward to Jesus’ Second Coming, and the contrast it will present to the humble scene presented in stanzas 1 and 2.

The tune, IRBY, was composed for this text in 1849 by Henry Gauntlett and was first published in 1850 as a melody with keyboard accompaniment. The tune name comes from a village in Lincolnshire, England. Gauntlett created a four-part setting for the 1868 Appendix of Hymns Ancient and Modern. Arthur Mann composed a four-part setting for the tune while he was organist at King’s College, Cambridge. Mann’s setting is the one commonly used.

Byron Songer
December 18, 2015

Advent 2015 - 03 - O Little Town of Bethlehem

The third Sunday of Advent — in some traditions the pink candle is lit to signify the hope of the world that will come with the birth of Jesus. Traditions using other colors of candles, of course, may just refer to this Sunday as the day reflect hope. Regardless of the tradition, it is another Sunday set aside to ponder the coming of the Christ Child into an expectant and hopeful universe.

For this Sunday I've chosen to begin a transition from hymns that are purely advent in nature (foretelling) to one celebrating the place of the first Christmas. Of course, one of the more familiar is “O Little Town of Bethlehem” written by Phillips Brooks three years after his visit to Bethlehem in the Christmas of 1865.

Brooks was a rather large person being six feet six inches tall and weighing nearly 300 pounds. His fame as a preacher was even larger. Brooks, a ninth-generation Puritan born in Boston, moved from that city to Philadelphia as an Episcopal priest. After the close of the Civil War he made the lengthy trip to Bethlehem where he could celebrate Christmas. It was on Christmas Eve in the old Church of the Nativity where, perhaps, Phillips was first stirred by the emotion of actually being so close to where Jesus was born.

It wasn’t until 1868 that he composed a five-verse poem reflecting on that experience and it’s relevance for the period of time in which he lived. He wanted the children of the parish to have a new Christmas carol to sing at their Christmas service. After composing the poem he gave it to the organist, Lewis Redner, stating that if he came up with a good tune for the poem he’d name the tune after him.

Days went by with little inspiration coming to Redner. Finally, after going to bed on December 23, the tune came to him in a dream. Awaking from sleep he jotted out notes on the flow of the melody. The next day he completed the tune and the children and their teachers learned it for performance that night.

Though four verses have survived that are commonly printed on hymnals of varying faiths, there is a fourth verse that is frequently avoided. The text of this verse is printed below.

Where children pure and happy pray to the blessed Child,

Where misery cries out to Thee, Son of the mother mild;

Where charity stands watching, and faith holds wide the door,

The dark night ends, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more.

Brooks was so pleased with the Redner’s tune that he named it ST. LOUIS changing the spelling so as not to embarrass him.

In some hymnals a tune created for the 1906 English Hymnal, FOREST GREEN, is often used.

Byron Songer
December 12, 2015

Advent 2015 - 02 - Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

With the lighting of the second candle in the wreath comes another meditation on an hymn for the Advent season presented as an eloquently stated prayer. It also “hits the mark” with the opening word that defines the season: Come. The full text of the advent hymn follows.

Come, thou long expected Jesus,

born to set thy people free;

from our fears and sins release us,

let us find our rest in thee.

Israel’s strength and consolation,

hope of all the earth thou art;

dear desire of every nation,

joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,

born a child and yet a King,

born to reign in us forever,

now thy gracious kingdom bring.

By thine own eternal spirit

rule in all our hearts alone;

by thine all sufficient merit,

raise us to thy glorious throne.

It squarely stands between the past and the future, which is where we stand; in the present. It looks at Israel’s history, recognizes the fact that Jesus was born, and presents a plea for the present time. That plea is composed of three requests; for the promised one to bring freedom from fear and sin, to rule in the hearts of believers, and to raise us, whether figuratively or literally, to God’s dwelling place. What about you? Is this your plea or are you asking for something else more material in orientation?

A Closer Look

This well-known hymn comes from Charles Wesley who was later called “the Bard of Methodism.” And rightly so. Charles, the more poetic of the sons of Samuel Wesley, wrote well over 600 hymns (poems meant for religious purposes such as singing or inspiration reflection) though less than two dozen survive today. This particular one was written in 1744.

It contains 16 short lines with a very common 8, 7, 8, 7 meter (keep in mind that this means a line of eight syllables followed by a line of seven syllables). As a result, it could be associated with a number of tunes. However, tradition has provided us with two.

Most commonly the poem was sung to STUTTGART, a tune written earlier in 1715. However, this short tune may not fit well thematically. Read the text again while noticing how my presentation of the stanzas, being composed of four lines, should really be presented in eight-line groupings. Lines one through eight make sense when viewed that way. Lines nine through 16, by contrast, may be viewed as containing two thoughts and, thus, could be separated.

This is the issue when choosing a tune for a hymn text, matching thought with the artistic rendering (singing).

This advent hymn also appears in some hymnals to the tune of HYFRYDOL, a tune that first appeared in the 1906 edition of The English Hymnal. As you may recall, this hymnal was edited by Ralph Vaughn Williams and the tune’s composer, Rowland H. Pritchard, was known by him. The meter of the tune is considered as “doubled” so that there are eight phrases to the entire stanza.

It begs the issue almost like which came first, the chicken or the egg. Do you sing a text to a tune written earlier or sing a tune to a text written earlier. Since neither was written for the other, the choice is left to you.

Conclusion

Regardless of your preference, the important thing is to sing the text with an understanding of it’s complete meaning — a longing for Jesus to come into the hearts of minds of all humankind. After all, Advent is the time we celebrate and yearn for “the Coming of Jesus.”

Byron Songer
December 5, 2015

Advent 2015 - 01 - O Come, O Come, Immanuel

The first Sunday of the church year is the Sunday nearest November 30. The day is called the First Sunday of Advent. Advent marks the time of preparation for the celebration of Christmas, the birth of Jesus. In many churches the observance includes the lighting of an advent wreath. Traditions vary as to whether there should be four candles or five. Within those traditions the choice of color also varies. Regardless of the practice, Advent is a time of preparing our hearts to celebrate a special occasion as a community of believers.

One of the better known advent hymns has a title that takes on one of two spellings of translation of a Hebrew name which means “God with us.” Hence, the title used for the blog has it “Immanuel” while the graphic I designed has it as “Emmanuel.” Regardless of the spelling, the meaning is the same. Here is the hymn as printed in many hymnals.

Now, let’s take a closer look at this hymn for the season.

The text is based on an antiphon used in the Roman Catholic liturgy around the 8th century. Of course, it was developed in Latin, the official language of the church at that time. It was used in a call and response fashion during the vespers, or evening, service the week before Christmas. It was not done to music as we commonly know it today. Since it originally contained seven verses, it fit the model of singing a different verse for each day. The original text created the reverse acrostic “ero cras,” which means “I shall be with you tomorrow,” and is particularly appropriate for the advent season. A metrical version (rhythmic patter appropriate for singing to a tune) of five of the verses appeared in the 13th century. Later it was translated into English by J.M. Neale in 1851. Still later, the last two verses were translated by various sources. It is important to note that each of the verses expounds upon one of the names for the Messiah:

• God with us
• Wisdom from on high
• Lord of Might
• Branch of Jesse
• Key of David
• Bright and Morning Star
• King of nations

Note also how each verse begins with “O come” before presenting the name for the Messiah. The consistent response to each verse, keep in mind that it was done antiphonally, was: “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.” 

The tune most often used today is VENI IMMANUEL (or EMMANUEL) was originally music for a Requiem Mass in a fifteenth-century French Franciscan Processional. Thomas Helmore was the composer. It appeared at a time when plainsong (only melody line) was disappearing from vogue and four-part harmony was considered new.

Singing the hymn with greater knowledge helps in understanding the yearning for God’s anointed servant who would free believers from a sense of bondage to sin. Above all, “Bid all our sad divisions cease and be yourself our King of Peace.”

Byron Songer

November 29, 2015