Christmas carols, with gratuitous if veiled references to Vergil's Eclogues

[tree_and_leaf]

So as to be more cheerful: here is one of my favourite Christmas carols.



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, goodwill 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 blessèd angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

For lo!, the days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever-encircling years
Comes round the age of gold
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Edmund Sears



Another of my favourites is the Advent hymn 'O come O come Emmanuel', which is based on the Advent antiphons; there's an interesting article about the original Latin - and its wordplay - here.

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Which bit is the Vergil?

P. Vergilius Maro, prophet of the gentile

[tree_and_leaf]

It's a bit tenuous, but I reckon that the 'prophet bards' and the returning 'age of gold' and 'ancient splendours' is a reference to Vergil's Fourth Eclogue, about the birth of a baby who was going to restore the Age of Gold, and which was taken by the mediaeval church as an inspired if unconsious prophecy of the Incarnation.

I love this song.

[sacred-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

In the theme of your other post, why is the last verse so often changed? Well, I can guess because I usually hear 'prophet-bards' sung as 'prophets long foretold' which I guess is supposed to make it more Christian-sounding.

Re: I love this song.

[tree_and_leaf]

I have no idea. I actually had no idea that the change was common - the 'prophet-bards' are what appears in the Church of Scotland hymnaries. I suppose the bards seem a bit random if you don't connect it with Vergil - and in certain circles, the link probably wouldn't help!

Re: I love this song.

[tree_and_leaf]

I've just discovered that the change arises in 1870 in the Hymnal Companion to the BCP, which was intended as an evangelical alternative to Hymns A and M. So it's obviously not a new phenomenon.... and there are probably low church types who are convinced that those are the right words!

[overconvergent.livejournal.com]

We had that tonight; I liked it :)

[tree_and_leaf]

It's good; the tune is also excellent, which helps!

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

I love that one - with words like that and a tune by Sullivan, what could go wrong? (Well, until they change the words in the cause of political correctness, of course...) I almost posted Milton's Nativity Ode tonight, but thought better of it.

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh, why? :(

Gald you enjoyed the hymn, anyway!

[intertext.livejournal.com]

I love that one too, and "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is one of my all-time favourites. I love the minor cadences and the syncopation.

I would agree about the hidden Vergil, though it's hard to say whether it's directly via the Eclogue, or from Golden Age tradition in literary tropes.

[tree_and_leaf]

I would agree about the hidden Vergil, though it's hard to say whether it's directly via the Eclogue, or from Golden Age tradition in literary tropes.

'Twas ever thus - though I'm more prepared to believe it's a direct reference in a ninetheenth century clergyman than in many other eras...

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I have always loved 'O Come, O Come Immanuel', or at least from the age of ten or so when I first sang it at a school carol service. I had no idea about the antiphons, though; nor about the Vergil reference in 'It came upon the midnight clear'. Thank you for enlightening me.

[tree_and_leaf]

'O Come O Come Emmanuel' is brilliant; we would always have it in church in Advent (this was under the previous minister, who was high church in Church of Scotland terms and very big on traditional hymns and the church year - actually, very musical, which helps an awful lot) and it was one of my favourites. It may have been the bits about lions, but I liked the tune a lot, it was interesting and mysterious...

[ms-wanderlust.livejournal.com]

I was just listening to O Come, O Come Emmanuel as I read your post! It's one of my favourites also, probably partly due to the fact that I was one of the only children in choir at school who could get the timing right. One of those rare "I'm best at this" moments of childhood :) It's the opening music for The Nativity Story, which I am just about to watch. I got a sneak preview at church in Malta yesterday so thought I'd watch the whole thing today.

[tree_and_leaf]

I always found the tune for 'O Come' interesting and mysterious as a child; I liked 'Of the Father's Love Begotten' (or 'Of the Father's Heart Begotten') for the same reason - but I also always did love the rich (Biblical) imagery, even before it made very much sense.

[snorkackcatcher]

Hmm, I actually rather like those two myself ...

[tree_and_leaf]

Happy to oblige!