"O Come, All Ye Faithful" (originally written in Latin as "") is a
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...
that has been attributed to various authors, including
John Francis Wade
John Francis Wade (1 January 1711 – 16 August 1786) was an English hymnist who is sometimes credited with writing and composing the hymn " Adeste Fideles" (which was translated to "O Come All Ye Faithful" in 1841 by Frederick Oakeley), even tho ...
(1711–1786),
John Reading (1645–1692),
King John IV of Portugal
John IV ( pt, João, ; 19 March 1604 – 6 November 1656), nicknamed John the Restorer ( pt, João, o Restaurador), was the King of Portugal whose reign, lasting from 1640 until his death, began the Portuguese restoration of independence from ...
(1604–1656), and anonymous
Cistercian monks. The earliest printed version is in a book published by Wade.
A manuscript by Wade, dating to 1751, is held by
Stonyhurst College in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
.
The original four verses of the
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...
were extended to a total of eight, and these have been translated into many languages. The English translation of "O Come, All Ye Faithful" by the English Catholic priest
Frederick Oakeley, written in 1841, is widespread in most English-speaking countries.
Text
The original text of the
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...
has been from time to time attributed to various groups and individuals, including
St. Bonaventure in the 13th century or King
John IV of Portugal in the 17th, though it was more commonly believed that the text was written by
Cistercian monks – the German, Portuguese or Spanish provinces of that order having at various times been credited.
In modern English hymnals, the text is usually credited to
John Francis Wade
John Francis Wade (1 January 1711 – 16 August 1786) was an English hymnist who is sometimes credited with writing and composing the hymn " Adeste Fideles" (which was translated to "O Come All Ye Faithful" in 1841 by Frederick Oakeley), even tho ...
, whose name appears on the earliest printed versions. Wade, an
English Catholic
The Catholic Church in England and Wales ( la, Ecclesia Catholica in Anglia et Cambria; cy, Yr Eglwys Gatholig yng Nghymru a Lloegr) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th ce ...
, lived in exile in France and made a living as a copyist of musical manuscripts which he found in libraries. He often signed his copies, possibly because his calligraphy was so beautiful that his clients requested this. In 1751 he published a printed compilation of his manuscript copies, ''Cantus Diversi pro Dominicis et Festis per annum''. This is the first printed source for ''Adeste Fideles''.
The version published by Wade consisted of four Latin verses. Later in the 18th century, the French Catholic priest wrote an additional three verses in Latin. Another anonymous Latin verse is rarely printed.
The text has been translated innumerable times into English. The most common version today is a combination of one of
Frederick Oakeley's translations of the original four verses, and William Thomas Brooke's translation of the three additional verses. It was first published in ''Murray's Hymnal'' in 1852. Oakeley originally titled the song "Ye Faithful, approach ye" when it was sung at his Margaret Chapel in
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it me ...
(London), before it was altered to its current form.
The song was sometimes referred to as the "Portuguese Hymn" after the
Duke of Leeds
Duke of Leeds was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1694 for the prominent statesman Thomas Osborne, 1st Marquess of Carmarthen, who had been one of the Immortal Seven in the Revolution of 1688. He had already succeeded as ...
, in 1795, heard a version of it sung at the Portuguese embassy in London. McKim and
Randell nonetheless argue for Wade's authorship of the most popular English language version.
Bennett Zon offers limited support for that argument, although he also suggests that the author may instead have been someone known to Wade.
Tune
Besides
John Francis Wade
John Francis Wade (1 January 1711 – 16 August 1786) was an English hymnist who is sometimes credited with writing and composing the hymn " Adeste Fideles" (which was translated to "O Come All Ye Faithful" in 1841 by Frederick Oakeley), even tho ...
, the tune has been attributed to several musicians, from
John Reading and his son, to
Handel, and even the German composer
Gluck
Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...
. The Portuguese composer
Marcos Portugal
Marcos António da Fonseca Portugal (24 March 1762 – 17 February 1830), known as Marcos Portugal, or Marco Portogallo, was a Portuguese-born Brazilian classical composer, who achieved great international fame for his operas.
Biography
Marc ...
or
King John IV of Portugal
John IV ( pt, João, ; 19 March 1604 – 6 November 1656), nicknamed John the Restorer ( pt, João, o Restaurador), was the King of Portugal whose reign, lasting from 1640 until his death, began the Portuguese restoration of independence from ...
have also been credited.
Thomas Arne
Thomas Augustine Arne (; 12 March 17105 March 1778) was an English composer. He is best known for his patriotic song " Rule, Britannia!" and the song "A-Hunting We Will Go", the latter composed for a 1777 production of '' The Beggar's Opera'', wh ...
, whom Wade knew, is another possible composer.
There are several similar musical themes written around that time, though it can be hard to determine whether these were written in imitation of the hymn, whether the hymn was based on them, or whether they are totally unconnected.
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Published versions
![Adeste, fideles (earliest version)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Adeste%2C_fideles_%28earliest_version%29.jpg)
The hymn was first published by
John Francis Wade
John Francis Wade (1 January 1711 – 16 August 1786) was an English hymnist who is sometimes credited with writing and composing the hymn " Adeste Fideles" (which was translated to "O Come All Ye Faithful" in 1841 by Frederick Oakeley), even tho ...
in his collection ''Cantus Diversi'' (1751),
with four Latin verses, and music set in the traditional
square notation used for
medieval liturgical music. It was published again in the 1760 edition of ''Evening Offices of the Church''. It also appeared in
Samuel Webbe
Samuel Webbe (1740 – 25 May 1816) was an English composer.
Life
Born in Menorca in 1740, Webbe was brought up in London. His father died when he was still an infant, and his mother returned to London where she raised Webbe in difficult c ...
's ''An Essay on the Church
Plain Chant
Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text ...
'' (1782).
The
hymn tune also made its way to the
Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South. The name is derived from ''The Sacred Harp'', a ubiquitous and historically important tune ...
tradition, appearing as "Hither Ye Faithful, Haste with Songs of Triumph" in an 1860 collection.
With "Herbei, o ihr Gläub'gen" a German translation of the Latin text was published in 1823 by
Friedrich Heinrich Ranke
Friedrich Heinrich Ranke (30 November 1798 – 2 September 1876) was a German Protestant theologian. He was the brother of historian Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) and the father of pediatrician Heinrich von Ranke (1830-1909) and anthropologis ...
.
Lyrics
These are the original four Latin verses as published by Wade, along with their English translation by Frederick Oakeley.
These are the additional Latin verses composed in the 18th century,
[The Hymns and Carols of Christmas](_blank)
Source for other five verses. with English prose translations, not from Oakeley:
Claims of Jacobite connections
Although, as previously stated, the hymn’s exact sources and origins remain unproven, there is universal agreement among musicologists that it was through the efforts of Catholic layman and music copyist John Francis Wade that it first appeared in print. Wade himself fled to France after the
Jacobite rising of 1745 was crushed, and his liturgical books were often decorated with Jacobite imagery (for context, the aim of the rebellion had been to restore a Catholic monarch — Charles Edward Stuart, popularly known as “
Bonnie Prince Charlie
Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...
” — to the throne of England). These aspects of Wade’s life and political leanings have given rise to speculation that he might have intended for ''Adeste Fideles'' to be a ciphered birth ode to the Jacobite’s Young Pretender.
This theory regarding the hymn’s meaning has been most recently proposed by Professor Bennett Zon, head of music at
Durham University. It essentially holds that “the song’s original Latin version was actually a coded rallying cry for the Steward cause”. Elements of this theory include:
*The as-yet-unproven but popular claim that “Bethlehem” was a common Jacobite cipher for England.
*The claim (also currently unproven) that Wade deliberately meant for the title ''Regem Angelorum'' — which is found in the hymn’s original Latin lyrics and translates literally to “King of Angels” — to refer to the king of England via a pun on the Latin words ''“Angelorum”'' (“of the angels”) and ''“Anglorum”'' (“of the English”).
*The fact that during the mid-18th century some English Roman Catholic liturgical books would place ''Adeste Fideles'' physically close to prayers for the would-be king in exile.
Proponents of this theory interpret the notions and circumstances described above as evidence that the lyrics of ''Adeste Fideles'' are meant to be “a call to arms for faithful Jacobites to return with triumphant joy to England (Bethlehem) and venerate the king of angels, that is, the English king (Bonnie Prince Charlie).” However, certain historical circumstances would seem to disprove or at least problematize the Jacobite ode theory. Namely:
# The absence of any textual evidence that can conclusively prove that Wade explicitly composed ''Adeste Fideles'' as a piece of political propaganda. In the absence of such evidence, the Jacobite imagery found in Wade’s books might be merely an expression of the author’s idiosyncratic blend of political and religious thought, which in turn might have reflected the sentiments of Catholic Jacobites as a group.
# Sources that credit the hymn’s composition to Wade overlook the fact that the exact origins of ''Adeste Fideles'' are uncertain. It is not known whether Wade might have simply copied the hymn from other sources (for instance, it could have been composed by Cistercian monks and eventually sung at the Portuguese embassy chapel in London), or to what extent he might have innovated on the contributions of the hymn’s other plausible authors.
# Most of the hymn’s original lyrics are an almost-verbatim expression of Roman Catholic dogmas regarding the person of Jesus Christ. As stated elsewhere in this article, the hymn takes almost all its contents from Bible verses and the Nicene Creed. Indeed, the evidence that the hymn is merely an artistic expression of the Catholic spiritual and intellectual tradition is so readily evident that the Irish musicologist William H. Grattan Flood concluded that the words and music of the song “are to be attributed to a Catholic source and for Catholic worship”.
Performance
In performance, verses are often omitted – either because the hymn is too long in its entirety or because the words are unsuitable for the day on which they are sung. For example, the eighth anonymous verse is only sung on
Epiphany
Epiphany may refer to:
* Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight
Religion
* Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ
** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...
, if at all; while the last verse of the original is normally reserved for Christmas
Midnight Mass
In many Western Christian traditions Midnight Mass is the first liturgy of Christmastide that is celebrated on the night of Christmas Eve, traditionally beginning at midnight when Christmas Eve gives way to Christmas Day. This popular Christmas ...
,
Mass at Dawn or Mass during the Day.
In the United Kingdom and United States it is often sung today in an arrangement by Sir
David Willcocks
Sir David Valentine Willcocks, (30 December 1919 – 17 September 2015) was a British choral conductor, organist, composer and music administrator. He was particularly well known for his association with the Choir of King's College, Cambr ...
, which was originally published in 1961 by
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
in the first book in the
Carols for Choirs series. This arrangement makes use of the basic harmonisation from ''
The English Hymnal
''The English Hymnal'' is a hymn book which was published in 1906 for the Church of England by Oxford University Press. It was edited by the clergyman and writer Percy Dearmer and the composer and music historian Ralph Vaughan Williams, and wa ...
'' but adds a
soprano descant
A descant, discant, or is any of several different things in music, depending on the period in question; etymologically, the word means a voice (''cantus'') above or removed from others. The Harvard Dictionary of Music states:
A descant is a ...
in verse six (verse three in the original) with its reharmonised
organ accompaniment, and a
last verse harmonisation
Last verse harmonisation is a technique of hymn accompaniment used by church organists to vary the harmony of a hymn, during the last verse whilst the melody remains unchanged, though sometimes embellished.
If the congregation is led by a choir, ...
in verse seven (verse four in the original), which is sung in unison.
This carol has served as the penultimate hymn sung at the Festival of
Nine Lessons and Carols
Nine Lessons and Carols, also known as the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, is a service of Christian worship traditionally celebrated on or near Christmas Eve. The story of the fall of humanity, the ...
by the
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's Col ...
, after the last lesson from
Chapter 1 of the
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
.
Adeste Fideles is traditionally the final anthem during Midnight Mass at
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...
in the Vatican.
See also
*
List of Christmas carols
This list of Christmas carols is organized by country, language or culture of origin. Originally, a "Christmas carol" referred to a piece of vocal music in carol form whose lyrics centre on the theme of Christmas or the Christmas season. The d ...
References
External links
*
*
* Fre
sheet musicof "O Come, All ye Faithful" for
SATB
SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass.
Choral music
Four-part harm ...
from Cantorion.org
Adeste Fideles two 19th-century arrangements
* , sung to David Willcocks' arrangement by the
Georgia Boy Choir
{{Authority control, state=collapsed
Christmas carols
Catholic music
English Christian hymns
Hymn tunes
Songs about Jesus
18th-century hymns in Latin
Charles Edward Stuart
Jacobite songs
Hymns in The English Hymnal
Latin Christmas carols