You Know ... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Shepherds why this jubilee?

Like a number of other 'traditional' carols, this song has a complex history. The words used by James Chadwick (1813-1882), an English Roman Catholic priest, were chosen to fit in with the concept and musical setting of a traditional French song, 'Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes'. They are far from a literal translation - as can be seen from the fact that the original title would become 'The Angels in our Countryside'. The words are usually sung to a tune called 'Gloria', an arrangement by American organist Edward Shippen Barnes (1887-1958) of a different traditional French tune. And in some places, this tune is one of those used to sing the hymn 'Angels from the Realms of Glory', written in 1816 by the Scottish poet James Montgomery (1771-1859).

The most memorable feature of this hymn is its chorus, in which the first syllable of the word Gloria is stretched out over 16 notes. Singing them in a chorus does indeed produce a glorious feeling!

Here are the first two verses of the hymn, which is placed among the shepherds described in Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Luke as being informed of the birth of Jesus:

"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?"

Answer: Still through the cloven skies they come

Edmund Sears (1810-1876), a Unitarian pastor in a Massachusetts town, wrote the word to 'It Came Upon the Midnight Clear' in 1849. He asked Richard Storrs Willis (1819-1900) to set it to music, and Willis produced a tune called 'Carol', which is usually used by Americans. In 1874 the British composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900), who may be more familiar for his collaboration with William S. Gilbert in writing a number of popular operettas, adapted a traditional English tune called 'Noel' to use as the setting for Sears's poem.

Unlike most Christmas hymns, this song does not focus on the baby Jesus, but on the import of that event for the contemporary world. This is especially clear when you sing all five verses, and don't just settle for the first one. The second verse starts to introduce the melancholy reflection that pervades the later verses (and which are usually omitted as not in keeping with the festive season):

"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, good will 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."

Answer: They looked up and saw a star

'The First Nowell' is a traditional song from Cornwall, which used that Early Modern English word for Christmas when first published in its current form in the 1830s. It is often now written as Noel, more in line with the French Noël. As is so often the case with traditional songs, lyrics vary regionally, but all conflate the shepherds (from Luke) and the star that led the Magi (from Matthew), leading to some confusion in the minds of those who try to use these lyrics to make geographic and/or astronomic calculations. The star is said to appear in the east (from the perspective of the shepherds), yet it is guiding the Wise Men who travel from further east, so see it in the west as they travel. The lyrics also specify that there are three Wise Men, a fact that had become tradition, but is nowhere stated in the gospel accounts on which the hymn is based.

These are the first two verses as included in 'The New English Hymnal' (1986):

"The first Nowell the angel 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:

(Refrain)
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
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."

Answer: Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The words to this carol were written by Phillips Brooks (an Episcopalian priest then living in Philadelphia) in 1868, following a visit to Bethlehem a few years earlier. He took lyrical inspiration from an Old Testament verse: "But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel." (Micah 5:2, KJV) As had been done by the writers of the gospels, many Christian hymnists were at pains to show the Old Testament roots of Christianity, to show that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah.

The tune you are using to sing along in your head will depend on where you live, as there are two very different tunes used. The first one, which was provided by his church organist, is called 'St. Louis'; it is a slow, reflective tune. The English musician Ralph Vaughan Williams set the words to 'Forest Green', an adaptation of a traditional English folk tune. If you sing the first line so that Bethlehem comes out as Be-eth-le-eh-hem, that is the tune you are using.

"O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see Thee lie
Above Thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by

Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in Thee tonight."

Answer: God of God, light of light

If I had asked you to use the Latin version (which is still sometimes sung), you probably would have had no trouble matching "Adeste fideles læti triumphantes" with "Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine." The song has been attributed to many different sources, but the oldest print version was in a book published by the Roman Catholic priest John Francis Wade (1711-1786) in 1751. He was almost certainly drawing on much older traditions, as he made his living while in exile in France by copying library manuscripts in his fine hand. His manuscript used the notation commonly found in medieval Gregorian chants; there is no commonly agreed source for the tune.

These lyrics are from the most common English translation, made by Frederick Oakely in 1852:

"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, (x3)
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, (x3)
Christ the Lord."

Answer: Christ by highest Heav'n ador'd

This is another hymn based on the second chapter the gospel of Luke, which describes a host of angels announcing the birth of Jesus to some nearby shepherds. The lyrics are adapted from Charles Wesley's 1739 'Hymn for Christmas-day', which started "HARK how all the Welkin rings". The most familiar version is based on that of George Whitefield in 1758, but slightly rearranged.

The music for 'Hark! The Herald Angles Sing' that is now usually used is an adaptation by the English musician William H. Cummings of an 1840 cantata by Felix Mendelssohn.

"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.'"

Answer: The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes

The first sources of the words for this hymn, dating from the 1880s, attributed the words to Martin Luther, saying he had written it as a lullaby for his children. This is now considered a false attribution by scholars, but the actual origin is not known. There are two distinctly different tunes used for contemporary settings of the song: if you sing the first line so that "a" and "no" have two syllables, you are singing to the tune 'Cradle Song', written by the American composer William J. Kirkpatrick in 1895; if the notes of the first line are basically descending as you sing, you are singing 'Mueller'. The former is more common in the UK and Commonwealth countries, the latter in the United States. There have been many others over the years. Due to its widespread popularity, there are also a number of slight variants in the words. Here are the first two verses from the version used by William Kirkpatrick:

'Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.
I love thee, Lord Jesus! look down from the sky,
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.'

Answer: Born a King on Bethlehem's plain

John Henry Hopkins Jr, an Episcopalian priest in Williamsport Pennsylvania, wrote 'Three Kings of Orient' (now known as 'We Three Kings') to be performed as part of an 1857 Christmas pageant at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, where he was Director of Music. It is part of the process that has cemented firmly in the minds of many the 'fact' that there were three Magi, and (since the original setting had the middle three verses sung as solos by the kings, who were identified by name) can tell you they were named Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, a tradition stemming from the 7th century. Since Hopkins wrote both the words and the music, they are pretty universal - barring the adaptations for different musical styles by popular recording artists.

'We Three Kings of Orient are,
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain,
Moor and mountain,
Following yonder Star.

(Refrain)
O Star of Wonder, Star of Night,
Star with Royal Beauty bright,
Westward leading,
Still proceeding,
Guide us to Thy perfect Light.

Born a King on Bethlehem's plain,
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King for ever,
Ceasing never
Over us all to reign."

Answer: Why lies he in such mean estate

In 1865, William Chatterton Dix wrote a poem called 'The Manger Throne', which was published in an 1871 hymnal produced by Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer. It is not clear who decided to use the traditional tune 'Greensleeves' for the hymn, but the fit is perfect, with the somewhat mournful feel of the music reflecting the questions that would have been in the minds of the shepherds who came to visit Jesus at his birth must have felt, as well as the unpleasant future that lay in wait for the child. The second verse is not often sung!

What child is this who laid to rest,
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping.
This, this is Christ the King whom shepherds guard and angels sing.
Haste, haste to bring Him laud.
The babe, the son of Mary.

Why lies He in such mean estate,
Where ox and donkeys are feeding?
Good Christians, fear, for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spears shall pierce him through,
The cross he bore for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary."

Answer: Led by the light of faith serenely beaming

'O Holy Night' is an English hymn that is a rough translation of the French poem 'Cantique de Noël', written in 1843 by Placide Cappeau. In 1847 it was set to music by Adolphe Adam, and in 1855 John Sullivan Dwight produced an English version. His music was only slightly changed from that of Adam, but the lyrics are more a translation of the sense than a direct translation of the original poem. The first line in French is "Minuit, Chrétien, c'est l'heure solennelle", which would translate into English as "Midnight, Christian, it is the solemn hour." This is indeed a solemn song, a reflection on the religious significance of the events celebrated at Christmas.

"O holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior'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 divine, O night when Christ was born

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 came the wise men from the 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 lowly bend"