Monday, December, 9th, 2019 Carillon Tune
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Tune name: Adeste Fideles
According to The New Oxford Book of Carols, “The genesis of this universally loved Christmas hymn is shrouded in obscurity.” This delights my musicologist side because it is an invitation to go down the rabbit hole of what various scholars have theorized over the centuries. But it frustrates my practical side because so much of what is written about this carol is pure speculation. What we do know, about this extremely popular carol published in about 650 English-language hymnals, is the following:
However, there are also many things that we do not know about this popular carol, the most obvious being who actually wrote it. Wade was not a composer, he was a copyist, and while suggestions have been made including Handel and Thomas Arne (who wrote “Rule Britannia”) none of these have been substantiated.
Likewise, we do not know the author of the text. Three of the Latin verses were added later by Abbé Étienne Jean François Borderies in 1822, and the translations usually found in English hymnals include at least some of both the original and additional verses. The four-verse text from The English Hymnal follows:
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, 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, Christ the Lord.
Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation.
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above,
“Glory to God
In the highest”:
O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
Yea, Lord, we greet thee,
Born this happy morning; [or born for our salvation]*
Jesu, to thee be glory given:
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing:
O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
*alternate text when the carol is not sung on Christmas Day.
Further listening and viewing:
http://youtu.be/TbV3CrQ6Sa0 Latin version sung by Luciano Pavarotti, Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal, and Les Disciples de Massenet, conducted by Franz-Paul Decker at Notre Dame cathedral in Montréal, 1978.
http://youtu.be/SDWNSiKLIjU English version sung by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, organ scholar Hugh Maclean, conducted by Boris Ord, 1954.
http://youtu.be/YG2woiVsJrc English version, with fanfare, sung by the Bach Choir, Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, organist John Scott, conducted by Sir David Willcocks, 1980.