This may be a poll, I’m not really sure. I am getting ready for a Saint Nick’s party (not Santa Claus) at our church, and I’m looking for some stories about the origins, or just good stories about the popular Christmas carols. Not the pop ones, but religious ones, such as “Silent Night” or “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, etc.
It might be interesting, but not particularly useful, to have the backstory of some of the secular ones, like “Rudolph.”
Do any of you have any websites that are likely candidates? Thanks in advance.
This site details the history of “Silent Night”. Summary: the words were written in 1816 by Joseph Mohr, a young priest assigned to a church in Austria. In 1818, Mohr asked his friend, musician-schoolteacher Franz Gruber, to compose a melody to fit the poem he had penned two years earlier. The carol was performed for the first time on Christmas Eve in 1818, in a village church in Oberndorf, Austria.
Other sites put forward claims like “Mice ate holes into the organ so they had to compose a tune that could be accompanied by guitar”. Make of them what you will.
I read an interesting history of the holiday called The Battle for Christmas. It gave an account of how Christmas was celebrated and how and why it has changed over the years. It’s a facinating read.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is a reworking of Charles Wesley’s original lyrics, which begin with the line Hark How All the Welkin Rings.
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear was written by a Unitarian minister as an appeal for peace after the Mexican War, the latest (at the time) manifestation of the “two thousand years of wrong” mentioned in the lyrics.
Hie thee to thy local public library, which will have more than one book on this subject. You may wish to look at the general history of carols–IIRC they had almost died out when a few Victorian enthusiasts decided to try to resurrect the practice. Carols for Easter and other holidays/seasons didn’t make it, but you can find several in the Oxford book of carols if you’re interested.
