Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
O little
town of Bethlehem Children
Real Sabrina
Advent Story Kim
“The First Noel.” I suspect that not many of us know what a
Noel is. Noel is a French word that comes from the Latin word natalis,
which means “birth.” So “The First Noel” is a song about the birth of
Jesus. It is an English carol that was sung by the village people as they
brought in the Yule log on Christmas Eve each year. They would burn the
Yule log for 12 days to symbolize the triumph of light over darkness — a really
happy thought in a place like England where the winter days are so short and
the winter nights so long.
The First Noel # 131
Joy to the World # 135
The O Antiphons to this day
sung between December 17 and 23 by Roman Catholic and Anglican religious communities
around the world. Sometime around 1100, an unknown author took these antiphons (written
in the 6th century) and turned them into a metrical Latin poem.
Shortly after 1700, an unknown editor printed this metrical version in the
collection Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum. 150 years later, one of these
antiphon poems came to the attention of Anglican priest and hymnwriter John
Mason Neale. Translated it into English and a 15th century French Franciscan
nuns funeral melody was added to it which sounds like this HUM and
is called:
O come O
come Emmanuel Ensemble
(Paul, Sandy, Sheri)
2000
Decembers Amber
and Emily
Do you have
Room? Penni
The Latin version of this carol, ‘Adeste Fideles’, was
written by John Francis Wade in the 1700’s…
O Come all ye faithful
(accapela) # 132
Born in me Heather
Joseph’s
Lullaby Abbey
& Maegan
The strange and fascinating
story of "O Holy Night" began in France, and would mark a
technological revolution that would forever change the way people were
introduced to music.
In 1847, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure was the
commissionaire of wines in a small French town. Known more for his poetry than
his church attendance, was asked by the parish priest to pen a poem for
Christmas mass. In a dusty coach traveling down a bumpy road to France's
capital city, Placide using the gospel of Luke as his guide, imagined
witnessing the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. By the time he arrived in Paris,
"Cantique de Noel" had been completed.
Moved by his own work, Placide decided that his
"Cantique de Noel" was not just a poem, but a song in need of a
master musician's hand. He turned to one of his friends, Adolphe Charles Adams,
for help.
The son of a well-known classical musician, his talent and
fame brought requests to write works for orchestras and ballets all over the
world. Yet the lyrics that his friend Placide gave him must have challenged him.
As a man of Jewish ancestry, for Adolphe the words of "Cantique de
Noel" represented a day he didn't celebrate and a man he did not view as
the son of God. Nevertheless, Adams quickly went to work, attempting to marry
an original score to Placide's beautiful words. Adams' finished work pleased
both poet and priest. The song was performed just three weeks later at a
Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
Initially, "Cantique de Noel" was wholeheartedly
accepted by the church in France and the song quickly found its way into
various Catholic
Christmas services. But when Placide Cappeau walked away from the church and
became a part of the socialist movement, and church leaders discovered that
Adolphe Adams was a Jew, the song--which had quickly grown to be one of the
most beloved Christmas songs in France--was suddenly and uniformly denounced by
the church. The heads of the French Catholic church of the time deemed
"Cantique de Noel" as unfit for church services because of its lack
of musical taste and "total absence of the spirit of religion." Yet
even as the church tried to bury the Christmas song, the French people
continued to sing it, and a decade later a reclusive American writer brought it
to a whole new audience halfway around the world.
Not only did this American writer--John Sullivan
Dwight--feel that this wonderful Christmas song needed to be introduced to
America, he saw something else in the song that moved him beyond the story of
the birth of Christ. An ardent abolitionist, Dwight strongly identified with
the lines of the third verse: "Truly he taught us to love one another; his
law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break, for the slave is
our brother; and in his name all oppression shall cease." The text
supported Dwight's own view of slavery. Published in his magazine, Dwight's
English translation of "O Holy Night" quickly found favor in America,
especially in the North during the Civil War.
Back in France, even though the song had been banned from
the church for almost two decades, many commoners still sang "Cantique de
Noel" at home. Legend has it that on Christmas Eve 1871, in the midst of
fierce fighting between the armies of Germany and France, during the
Franco-Prussian War, a French soldier suddenly jumped out of his muddy trench.
Both sides stared at the seemingly crazed man. Boldly standing with no weapon
in his hand or at his side, he lifted his eyes to the heavens and sang,
"Minuit, Chretiens, etc," the beginning of "Cantique de
Noel."
After completing all three verses, a German infantryman
climbed out his hiding place and answered with, "Vom Himmel noch, da komm'
ich her, etc., " the beginning of Martin Luther's "From Heaven Above
to Earth I Come."
The story goes that the fighting stopped for the next
twenty-four hours while the men on both sides observed a temporary peace in
honor of Christmas day. Perhaps this story had a part in the French church once
again embracing "Cantique de Noel" in holiday services.
Adams had
been dead for many years and Placide and Dwight were old men when on Christmas
Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden--a 33-year-old university professor and former
chief chemist for Thomas Edison--did something long thought impossible. Using a
new type of generator, Fessenden spoke into a microphone and, for the first
time in history, a man's voice was broadcast over the airwaves: (Luke
2:1-20) "MEMORIZED:
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them." he began in a clear, strong voice, hoping
he was reaching across great distances.
Shocked Morse code operators on ships and astonished
wireless owners at newspapers sat stunned as their normal, coded impulses,
heard over tiny speakers, were interrupted by a professor reading from the
gospel of Luke. To the few who caught this broadcast, it must have seemed like
a miracle--hearing a voice somehow transmitted to those far away. Some might
have believed they were hearing the voice of an angel.
Fessenden was probably unaware of the sensation he was
causing on ships and in offices; he couldn't have known that men and women were
rushing to their wireless units to catch this Christmas Eve miracle. After
finishing his recitation of the birth of Christ, Fessenden picked up his violin
and played "Cantique de Noel" or what in English was "O Holy
Night," the first song ever sent through the air via radio waves. When the
carol ended, so did the broadcast--but not before music had found a new medium
that would take it around the world.
Since that
first rendition at a small Christmas mass in 1847, "O Holy Night" has
been sung millions of times in churches in every corner of the world. And since
the moment a handful of people first heard it played over the radio, the carol
has gone on to become one of the entertainment industry's
most recorded and played spiritual
songs. This incredible work--requested by a forgotten parish priest, written by
a poet who would later split from the church, given soaring music by a Jewish
composer, and brought to Americans to serve as much as a tool to spotlight the
sinful nature of slavery as tell the story of the birth of a Savior--has become
one of the most beautiful, inspired pieces of music ever created.
O Holy Night #
152
CANDLE-LIGHTING
Silent Night #
151
No comments:
Post a Comment