The Christmas Carol Reader

William E Studwell, Frank Hoffmann, B Lee Cooper

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781560238720
• eBook ISBN: 9781136591457
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

Like that Biblical, astronomical star of Bethlehem, The Christmas Carol Reader guides readers on their quest for information about Christmas songs. Studwell gathers a composite picture of the world's most important and famous carols and includes an ample selection of lesser-known Christmas songs. All of the carols are presented in their historical and cultural contexts which adds to readers'understanding and appreciation of the songs.As the only book that covers this elusive topic, The Christmas Carol Reader informs and entertains readers on over 200 songs of all types (sacred and secular), of all periods (Middle Ages through the 20th century), and from a number of countries and cultures. Because many of the songs in The Christmas Carol Reader fit into more than one distinct category, Studwell wisely divides the songs into two major groups--those that reflect Christmas as a Holy Day and those that celebrate Christmas as a Holiday. Here is just a sample of the breadth of coverage of songs:

• Sacred: From Heaven Above to Earth I Come; O Come, O Come Emmanuel; Angels From the Realms of Glory; As With Gladness Men of Old; O Holy Night (Cantique de Noël); Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne
  
• Secular: Happy Holiday; A Holly Jolly Christmas; God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen; Silver Bells; Here Comes Santa Claus; I'll Be Home for Christmas
  
• Medieval: Puer Natus in Bethlehem (A Boy Is Born in Bethlehem); Coventry Carol; I Sing of a Maiden; La marche des rois (The March of the Kings); In Dulci Jubilo
  
• 1500--1700's: Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella; I Saw Three Ships; Carol of the Bagpipers
  
• 1800's: Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful); O Little Town of Bethlehem; What Child Is This?; It Came Upon a Midnight Clear; Stille Nacht, Heiliege Nacht (Silent Night)
  
• Spirituals: Go Tell It on the Mountain; I Wonder as I Wander; Mary Had a Baby; Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow
  
• Little Known: O Bethlehem!; The Sleep of the Infant Jesus; Song of the Nuns of Chester
  
• Countries and Cultures: O Tannenbaum; Lulajze Jezuniu (Polish Lullaby); Fum, Fum, Fum; Carol of the Bells; Patapan; El rorro (The Babe)

As readers learn about the history and nature of the Christmas carol in general and the specific history of individual religious and secular carols, they will learn some history and nature of the holiday season which can bring more enjoyment into their celebrations for years to come.On long winter nights, The Christmas Carol Reader can be read continuously as a series of fact-based commentaries on Christmas music. For shorter periods in between holiday activities, readers can peruse one of the topical sections or select, with the aid of the title index, an individual essay of interest. As a library reference, this book can provide facts for research on Christmas songs or just provide an entertaining education for curious library patrons.

Part I:

Christmas as a Holy Day

The Birth of Jesus

Away in a Manger

Some well-chosen and strategically placed words can create misinformation that remains in the popular imagination for many years. This was the situation when the lyrics and melody for “Away in a Manger” were first published in 1887. Because the song was printed with the heading “Luther’s Cradle Hymn (Composed by Martin Luther for his children, and still sung by German mothers to their little ones),” it was widely believed that the great historical figure was its author. After all, Luther (1483-1546) did compose several hymns, notably “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (1527 or 1528) and the carol “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come” (1534-1539).

It took nearly 60 years to disprove this modern myth. Research published in 1945 clearly demonstrated that Luther was not at all responsible for either words or music. The genesis of the myth was perhaps an 1872 book, Luther at Home, by T. B. Stork. At the time Lutherans were strongly attracted to a series of sentimental illustrations about Luther’s family life. Stork made the statement that “Luther’s carol for Christmas, written for his own child Hans, is still sung.” Quite possibly Stork was referring to Luther’s carol “From Heaven Above” which had received its best-known translation only a few years before, in 1855. But Stork did not specifically name the carol he alluded to, thus creating the potential for misunderstanding.

In 1885, another troublesome element was inserted into this vacuum of underinformation and sentimentality. In that year two anonymous verses entitled “Away in a Manger” appeared in a collection of Lutheran hymns published in Philadelphia. No authorship for these verses has ever been ascertained, except for the possibility of association with the German Lutheran community of Pennsylvania. (A third verse, added before 1892, is also anonymous.) Two years after the publication of the enigmatic verses, the lyrics were again issued, this time in Cincinnati, Ohio, and this time with a musical setting and the very misleading attribution to Martin Luther. The editor of the infamous 1887 collection, American James Ramsey Murray (1841-1905), was almost surely the composer of the gentle melody. But due to the environment of misinformation his authorship was not determined until much later, in spite of the notation “Music by J. R. M.” indicated when the lullaby was next published in 1888. One can only conjecture about Murray’s motivation for the misrepresentation of the song as Luther’s. Perhaps he was caught up in the Luther sentimentality fad and really thought that the lyrics were by Luther. Or perhaps he decided to take advantage of the prevailing mood and to use the name of Luther to draw attention to his melody. Either way, the effect was to evoke immediate interest in the carol.

Further elements of confusion were added over the years by the incorrect attribution of the tune to a possibly imaginary personage named “Carl Mueller” and by the publication of the lyrics with a large number of variant tunes. Of the abundant substitute melodies, the most used are a tune by Jonathan E. Spilman (1812-1896) created for the song “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton” and a melody by William James Kirkpatrick (1838-1921) which is commonly sung in Great Britain. Despite the knowledge that Luther and Mueller are in no way associated with the writing of the carol, the myth continues. Some collections in the 1980s still indicate that Luther and/or Mueller are the creators of “Away in a Manger.” The same type of situation, almost unbelievably, also applies to two other great Christmas songs, “Joy to the World!” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Perhaps our later twentieth-century society is not as knowledgeable and sophisticated as we would like to think.

The Babe

Mexico has two main cultural heritages. The oldest is the rich Indian tradition of the Aztecs, Mayas, Mixtecs, and others, which dates back an unknown number of centuries. The more recent is the dominant Spanish culture which was introduced into Mexico with the conquests of Hernán Cortés and his soldiers beginning in 1519. Due largely to this blend of civilizations, the folk music of Mexico, though having definite affiliations with the arts of Spain, has a style which is distinct from that of the “mother country.”

As early as the seventeenth century, baroque-style Christmas music appeared in Mexico. This music, however, was strongly influenced by Spain. It was not until possibly the eighteenth century that New World-style folk carols came onto the Mexican scene. All of the notable Mexican folk Christmas songs were probably created during that century or the nineteenth century. The best known of these carols is perhaps “El rorro,” most typically translated as “The Babe,” but with variant titles such as “Rocking the Child,” “The Rocking of the Child,” and “O, Ru-Ru-Ru, My Little Jesus.” This lullaby is traditionally sung on Christmas Eve as the climax of a nine-night “Posadas” ceremony reenacting Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging.

“The Babe” is one of the few Latin American carols that is known in the United States. “El Mino Jesus” (“The Child Jesus”) from Puerto Rico and “Vamos pastoricitos” (“Let Us Go, O Shepherds”) from Colombia are others that are also moderately used north of the Rio Grande. But no Latin American carol is particularly familiar to United States audiences, a condition which is a bit surprising considering the wealth of Latin American music known to norteamericanos.

The Birthday of a King

If the typical American was asked to name a birthday song, the response would almost surely be “Happy Birthday to You.” Such an answer would be nearly automatic, for the simple American children’s song from the late nineteenth century (1893) is arguably the most sung piece of music in the United States. But if the first question were followed up by a second request to name still another birthday song, the chances are that the reply would not be as readily given. Yet when one really thinks about it, we all are familiar with a number of birthday songs. After all, any song about the Nativity is in a true sense about the birth of Jesus.

Part of the charm of the carol “The Birthday of a King” is its ingenuous yet appropriately descriptive title. Written by William Harold Neidlinger (1863-1924), a Brooklyn-born conductor, composer, organist, and teacher, the song has several traits in common with the ubiquitous “Happy Birthday to You.” Neidlinger’s song, created about 1890, has an almost identical date and is also especially suitable for children. Most of all, like “Happy Birthday to You,” it continues to live on, generation after generation, both because of its popular appeal and because of its serviceability as a special occasion song. It survives partly because at every Christmastide it reminds us that, indeed, Christmas is the birthday of a king!

A Boy is Born in Bethlehem

Through most of the Middle Ages, Christmas songs were written only in the languages of the two dominant medieval churches, with Greek carols used by the Eastern church and Latin carols used by the Roman church. Late in the medieval era, around the thirteenth century, carols in the everyday language of common people began to appear. As these popular-language carols became more and more prevalent, new Greek and Latin carols became more and more a rarity. By around the sixteenth century, that is, around the height of the Renaissance, the old-style church-language carols were seldom composed. There were some exceptions to this trend, of which the great eighteenth-century Latin carol “Adeste fideles” (“O Come All Ye Faithful”) is the most notable, but as a whole the modern era extinguished the continuance of the old carol genres.

A number of medieval and early modern Latin carols are still actively sung in the twentieth century. One of these is the anonymous fourteenth-century song “Puer natus in Bethlehem,” which may have been written in Germany or the adjacent Bohemia region of Czechoslovakia. Although it is not familiar today to most people, and is not even the most frequently sung Latin carol from its era, it is in at least one way the most important carol of its type. Possibly the most culturally influential Christmas song of all time, the lyrics to “Puer natus” have been borrowed for carols in German, Danish, Dutch, and several other languages. Its tune, furthermore, has been widely used, including for other carols and for a well-known harmonization by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). (Actually, by the sixteenth century the original tune had been supplanted by its descant, or accompanying melody, and that is the form known today.)

Its influential historical role can also be strongly inferred by the abundance of English translations that have been made. All of these English versions are similar–“A Boy Is Born in Bethlehem,” “A Boy Was Born in Bethlehem,” “A Child Is Born in Bethlehem,” etc. This flock of translations together with its herd of artistic relations suggests that “Puer natus” has been a carol of greatness. Its current slight popularity precludes that status today, but it would certainly be appropriate to describe this old carol as a truly great song of the past.

Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella

“Who were Jeannette and Isabella?” may not rank high among the literary mysteries of the world, yet the identities of these two famous unknown women do provide an intriguing puzzle for the lighthearted speculator. Were they sisters, daughters, wives, or lovers? Or were they simply names that the poet chose because of sound and/or rhythm?

Although the mystery of these carol characters will never be solved, there is nothing secret about the very high quality of this delightful seventeenth-century folk carol from the Provence region of France. Originally “Un flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle,” it has been honored by a number of English versions, of which “Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella” by Englishman Edward Cuthbert Nunn (1868-1914) is the most popular.

The mysteries associated with the carol do not end with Jeannette and Isabella. There is some cause to believe that the author of the song was Nicholas Saboly (1614-1675), who also may have been the creator of another carol, “Touro-louro-luoro!,” which was from the same place and period. In any case, the imaginative lyrics depicting the utilization of torches to light the way to the manger scene and the sprightly and rhythmic melody are a singularly compelling combination. “Bring a Torch” is one of those songs in the category which could be designated as “great lesser-known carols.” That is, its esthetics surpass its international appreciation and recognition.

The Child Jesus

No area on the Earth has a more turbulent combination of history and weather than the Caribbean. Pirates, treasure hunters, dictators, hurricanes, and other disturbing phenomena have been commonplace since Christopher Columbus first discovered the region in the late fifteenth century. Yet all has not been foment and agitation in this tropical environment, for many movements of peaceful creativity have occurred.

One of the islands of the Caribbean which has had its share of artistic activity is the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. That island has possibly produced more good Christmas songs than any other place in the region. Persons in the United States are familiar with Jose Feliciano’s 1970 song “Feliz Navidad” which reportedly is based on a Puerto Rican folk song. Other popular carols are “De tierra lejana venimos” (“Song of the Wise Men”), “Pastores a Belén” (“Shepherds in Bethlehem”) and “El Mino Jesus” (“The Child Jesus”). Discounting Feliciano’s song as being equally of United States and Puerto Rican origin, “El Mino Jesus” (also called “El Santo Niño” and “El Niño Jesus)” is perhaps the leading carol of its culture.

This folk carol is probably from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The lyrics have been attributed to the prominent Spanish poet Antonio Machado (1875-1939), which is a distinct tribute to the quality of the carol, but it is doubtful that Machado was in any way responsible. There is an indirect relationship between “El Mino” and Spain, though. The charming artistic portrayal of the baby Jesus standing at the door is not unique to this carol. Two somewhat similar folk carols, “A esta puerta llama un Niño” and “Madre, en la puerta hay un Niño,” which both roughly translate as “There’s a Child at the Door,” also exist in Spain. Good ideas, it seems, are not confined by national boundaries.

Coventry Carol

During the Middle Ages, the community of Coventry, England, experienced three very dissimilar events which have not succumbed to the obscuring onslaught of the centuries. The most famous, or rather the most notorious, of these occurred in the eleventh century. Lady Godiva, who was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, became legendary when she reportedly rode naked on a white horse through the city in exchange for her husband’s promise to ease the tax burden of the people. The second event, also with positive and negative features, is the construction of the Cathedral of St. Michael in the fourteenth century. Unfortunately, part of the cathedral’s fame has come from its destruction, along with the rest of central Coventry, in an extended air raid by the German Luftwaffe in November 1940.

The third event is the creation of the beloved old song, “Coventry Carol,” during the fifteenth century. The mournful lyrics, “Lully, lulla, you little tiny child” (which have several variations), were written for the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors in Coventry. (The pageant was a medieval-style mystery play based on biblical stories. At least in the beginning, the pageant was connected with the two guilds.) The lilting melody, probably also composed for the same production, appears to be from the same period. No person has been associated with the authorship of the lyrics except that the oldest known text was written down by Robert Croo in 1534. Likewise, there has been no personal attribution of the compelling melody, whose oldest known printing dates from 1591.

There is, of course, a positive and negative dichotomy with this Coventry event, too. The positive is the lovely and sensitive carol that has come down to us. The negative is the depressing theme of the song, the slaughter of the innocents by Herod. It is highly fortunate that few carols have dealt with this topic, which is the only really unpleasant element of the Christmas story.

From Heaven Above to Earth I Come

Five landmark events or historical forces occurred around the year 1500. The capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 symbolically marked the end of the Middle Ages. The discovery of America in 1492 by Christopher Columbus was the highlight of the geographical revolution of the fifteenth century. The invention of printing with movable type by Johann Gutenberg around 1440-1450 initiated the communications revolution. In 1500 the intellectual revolution, the Renaissance, was in mid-stride, and in 1517 Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 theses initiated the Protestant Reformation, or the religious revolution.

Luther (1483-1546) was one of the most prominent persons of the sixteenth century. The Reformation which he led and its multifarious side effects dominated the history of Europe for about 130 years. Yet in spite of enough activities to saturate several lifetimes, Luther found enough time to write some hymns of note. His most important hymn was “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” (“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”), which was written in 1527 or 1528. “Ein feste Burg,” still one of the very favorite hymns in Protestant churches, has been called “the battle hymn of the Reformation” and “The Marseillaise … of the Reformation.”

Luther also composed one original Christmas carol, “Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her.” Most of his association with carols is peripheral, for example, his translating some carols from the Latin and adding some verses to the fourteenth-century German folk carol “Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ.” (The attribution of “Away in a Manger” to Luther is, incidentally, entirely spurious.) The lyrics for “Vom Himmel hoch” reportedly were written for a Christmas Eve ceremony for Luther’s son Hans, in which seven verses were sung by a man dressed as an angel, and the remainder of the 15 verses were sung in response by Luther’s children. The year of this incident was most likely 1534. The verses were published in 1535 accompanied by an old German folk melody. Four years later, in 1539, Luther published the carol with a different tune. The new tune, which was probably composed by Luther, was the beautiful melody that has made this carol one of the very favorite Christmas songs in Germany and also one of the better-known carols throughout the world. Of carols created entirely in Germany, it is perhaps rivaled in international recognition only by “O Tannenbaum” (“O Christmas Tree”).

Indicative of the tune’s wide public acceptance is its utilization for various other purposes. Luther himself wrote a shorter substitute for “Vom Himmel hoch” to be used with his tune. In 1543 he devised the song “Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar” (“From Heaven Came the Angel Host”), a sort of mini-variant of the 1534 carol which never really caught the attention of audiences. The tune also has been connected with at least four other hymns, plus the English carol, “The Holy Son of God” by Henry More (1614-1687). The ultimate compliment perhaps is its use by the great Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), in three different harmonizations, in his 1734 Christmas Oratorio.

The text of the carol has not had the same happy fate as the melody. Although very skillful in the German original, the words have not really received an outstanding English translation. Of the 15 or 20 translation efforts, the best-known one is probably “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come” by Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878), which was published in 1855. The difficulties with the translation no doubt have limited the carol’s popularity in English-speaking countries where it is not o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I: Christmas as a Holy Day
• Part II: Christmas as a Holiday
• Title Index
• Person and Group Index