Hark! the Herald Angels Sing : The Song and the Story
One of our favorite Christmas Songs “”Hark the Herald Angels Sing” has a very interesting story to it.
Author: The lyrics of the song first appeared in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739. The writer of was Charles Wesley (1707-1788), composer of many significant hymns, and brother of the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley (1703-1791).
Melody:
One of the tunes originally used for the carol was also used as a tune for Amazing Grace. Wesley himself, however, envisaged his lyrics sung to the same tune as his Easter hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today
One hundred years later, the melody was changed. The tune that is now almost always used for this carol is based on a chorus composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840, part of his cantata Festgesang an die Künstler (”Festival Song”) to commemorate the printer Johann Gutenberg and the invention of his printing press.
Interesting Fact:
The original opening couplet was “Hark! how all the welkin rings / Glory to the King of Kings”.
In 1753, for reasons that are not clear, the Wesleys’ rival, the more Calvinistically inclined George Whitefield, altered the first two lines to their present form, as well as cutting a large number of extra verses. Ian Bradley regrets the excisions: Wesley’s original proclaims what he calls ‘an ecotheology’, in which Christ is concerned ‘with redeeming the whole environment and not just the human part of creation.’
Various hymn-books, including the influential English Hymnal of 1906, have subsequently attempted to revive Wesley’s original, without success.
In 1855, after both Wesley and Mendelssohn were dead, Dr. William Cummings put the words and music together in spite of evidence that neither author nor composer would have approved.
I hope you will enjoy watching and listening to the rendition of the song from Jewel.
Lyrics :
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King,
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th’ 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 th’ incarnate Deity,
pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”
Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman’s conquering Seed,
bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface;
stamp thine image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”
Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
————–
posted by Tess Rupprecht
