Another photo by Karren McPherson from Dawson Community Church, Falkirk
What makes a good carol ? Our response to this question might vary from one person to another. For me it takes both a good tune and meaningful words. I am not a fan of some of the Christmas 'carols' such as Good King Wenceslas or Jingle Bell Rock. I don't find much content in that type of carol. In the carol we are looking at in today's Day Share, I enjoy the music - it's a lovely tune but the lyrics also are spiritually uplifting. It is very interesting to discover how the carol that we sing today came about. The carol was first written by a man named Charles Wesley who wrote over 6,000 hymns . Charles Wesley probably has achieved the world record as the man who wrote the most hymns but there was a woman who beat him - a woman called Fanny Crosby who wrote around 8,000. No comment!
It was away back in the year 1739 that Charles wrote his version of this carol and he called it a "Hymn for Christmas Day." This hymn writer was a Methodist and his brother, John was a great preacher who saw thousands of English people converted to Christ. The hymn first appeared in John Wesley's Collection of Hymns and Sacred Poems. Here is how this Charles Wesley hymn began
Hark! how all the welkin rings
Glory to the King of Kings.
By the way the word 'welkin' means the sky or heavens. It has almost died out in modern English although the phrase the 'welkin ring' still survives - but it is not a phrase I have ever used. It just shows how language has changed since the 18th century. It was another Methodist by the name of George Whitefield who tweaked the lyrics to give us the first two lines which we know so well in the year 1754.
Hark the Herald angels sing
Glory to the new-born King.
I am so glad that the lyrics were changed. I understand that the tune that the Methodists used for this hymn was a bit depressing. Charles Wesley and his brother were described as 'sombre' - so the Methodists chose what they considered to be a suitable tune. I have not heard this tune - it did not survive with the original carol.
The tune that we now sing to Hark! the Herald Angels sing was composed by a German musician by the name of Felix Mendelssohn. Now this is what is interesting. When Mendelssohn wrote the piece of music, he was not thinking that it would go well to a Christian hymn or carol for Christmas. Mendelssohn was writing the music to celebrate the invention of the printing press by a German named Johann Gutenberg. So if you go through the words of this hymn, at the part where we sing "with the angelic host proclaim" - Mendelssohn had these German words, "Gutenberg, der deutsche Mann" [As you know deutsche means "German."] Mendelssohn wrote a letter to his English publisher suggesting that this was too good a tune to be wasted on a one-off event (he did not actually use these words). He wanted someone to add English lyrics to his tune. Mendelssohn warned that the tune would never suit sacred words - in other words, it was not suitable for a hymn tune. Here is the whole extract from Mendelssohn's letter -
"If the right ones are hit at, I am sure that the piece will be liked very much by the singers and the hearers, but it will never do to sacred words. There must be a national and merry subject found out, something to which the soldier-like and buxom motion of the piece has some relation, and the words must express something gay [not the meaning we use today - "happy"] and popular as the music tries to do it."
Notice that Mendelssohn associated hymns with sad tunes or more accurately he cannot associate his bright tune with a Christian hymn. I used to listen to school teacher colleagues with the same prejudices. I wish we could show them that Christians are joyful in their worship (most of the time!).
I think it is wonderful that two people who lived centuries apart and who lived in different countries were used by God to bring us this wonderful Christmas carol. There were others involved too - George Whitefield adapted the original words and improved them and in 1856 another musician by the name of W.H. Cummings (the organist at Waltham Abbey) adapted Mendelssohn's tune to fit these words. So it took more than a century for this hymn to emerge as the much-loved Christmas carol.
But what about the lyrics of this wonderful Christmas carol. I want to highlight some of the lyrics that I find the most inspiring in conveying the meaning of Christmas.
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 new-born King"
This verse conveys the whole message of Christmas in a few lines. Jesus the baby in Bethlehem is the Everlasting Lord and is adored and worshipped by angels in heaven. The virgin birth is celebrated - "offspring of a virgin's womb." The two lines beginning with "Veiled in flesh" are my most quoted lines from a carol. Jesus was in a human body but He was truly God. The human body was drawing a 'veil' over his deity and many people who met Jesus did not realise who He was - the Son of God. Charles Wesley wanted to teach the poor people of his day the true meaning of Christmas even though they were illiterate. He hoped that his hymns would teach sublime truths from the Bible. There is some variation on the words which are sung to the words which are sung to "Pleased as man with man to dwell." Some versions have it "Pleased as man with men to dwell." Some people think that it is too much about men in this society when we should not be male dominated. One version has adapted the words like this "Pleased as flesh with us to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel." We are missing the point - Jesus became human - a man - so that he could live among us on earth. The hymn reaches a climax with the words which are almost a refrain
"Hark! the Herald-angels sing
Glory to the new-born King."
If the angels were worshipping Him, so should we. May we give Jesus the worship He deserves this Christmas in 2024. I would love to have the courage to sit at my door with my wee keyboard with an amplifier and play this wonderful carol - but I am not a good enough musician. Still it would be good to hear this carol ringing out in Falkirk, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Widnes or Stevenston or wherever you are today. I could share a list of the places where there is someone who reads my wee blogs. This is a lively version - maybe a bit too lively for a 72 year old Scots guy. Charles Wesley would definitely not approve.
Comments