"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is an English

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 or ...

that first appeared in 1739 in the collection ''Hymns and Sacred Poems''. The carol, based on , tells of an

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...

ic chorus singing praises to God. As it is known in the modern era, it features lyrical contributions from

Charles Wesley Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include "And Can It Be", "Christ the Lord Is Risen T ...

and

George Whitefield George Whitefield (; 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an Anglican cleric and evangelist who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke College at ...

, two of the founding ministers of

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

, with music adapted from " Vaterland, in deinen Gauen" by

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

. Wesley, who had written the original version as "Hymn for Christmas-Day," had requested and received slow and solemn music for his lyrics, which has since largely been discarded. In 1840—a hundred years after the publication of ''Hymns and Sacred Poems''—Mendelssohn composed a

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning o ...

to commemorate

Johann Gutenberg Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (; – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and craftsman who introduced letterpress printing to Europe with his movable-type printing press. Though not the first of its kind, earlier designs w ...

's invention of movable type printing, and it is music from this cantata, adapted by the English musician William H. Cummings to fit the lyrics of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", that propels the carol known today.Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
at ''Hymns and Carols of Christmas''

Textual history

The original hymn text was written as a "Hymn for Christmas-Day" by

, included in the 1739

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Meth ...

collection ''Hymns and Sacred Poems.'' The first stanza (verse) describes the announcement of Jesus' birth. Wesley's original hymn began with the opening line "Hark how all the Welkin rings". This was changed to the familiar "Hark! the Herald Angels sing" by

in his 1754 ''Collection of Hymns for Social Worship''. A second change was made in the 1782 publication of the Tate and Brady ''New Version of the Psalms of David''. In this work, Whitefield's adaptation of Wesley's hymn appears, with the repetition of the opening line "Hark! the Herald Angels sing/ Glory to the newborn king" at the end of each stanza, as it is commonly sung today.

Melodies

Mendelssohn melody

In 1855, British musician

William Hayman Cummings William Hayman Cummings (22 August 1831 – 5 June 1915) was an English musician, tenor and organist at Waltham Abbey. Cummings was born in Sidbury (near Sidmouth) in Devon. He was educated at St Paul's Cathedral Choir School and the City o ...

adapted

's secular music from ''

Festgesang The "Festgesang", also known as the "Gutenberg Cantata", was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in the first half of 1840 for performance in Leipzig at the celebrations to mark the putative 400th anniversary of the invention of printing with movable ty ...

'' to fit the lyrics of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" written by Charles Wesley. Wesley had originally envisioned the song being sung to the same tune as his Easter song "

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" is a Christian hymn associated with Easter. Most of the stanzas were written by Charles Wesley, and the hymn appeared under the title "Hymn for Easter Day" in ''Hymns and Sacred Poems'' by Charles and John We ...

". "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" was regarded as one of the

Great Four Anglican Hymns The "Great Four" are four hymns widely popular in Anglican and other Protestant churches during the 19th century. In his ''Anglican Hymnology'', published in 1885, the Rev. James King surveyed 52 hymnals from the member churches of the Anglican C ...

and published as number 403 in ''The Church Hymn Book'' (New York and Chicago, 1872). In Britain, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" has popularly been performed in an arrangement that maintains the basic original William H. Cummings harmonisation of the Mendelssohn tune for the first two verses, but adds a

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880& ...

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 ...

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, ...

for the organ in verse three by Sir David Willcocks. This arrangement was first 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 book ...

in the first book of the ''

Carols for Choirs ''Carols for Choirs'' is a collection of choral scores, predominantly of Christmas carols and hymns, first published in 1961 by Oxford University Press. It was edited by Sir David Willcocks and Reginald Jacques, and is a widely used source o ...

'' series. For many years it has served as the recessional hymn of the annual Service 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 ...

King's College Chapel, Cambridge King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan vault. The Chapel was bu ...

Handel melody

An uncommon arrangement of the hymn to the tune "See, the Conqu'ring hero comes" from

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...

's '' Judas Maccabaeus'', normally associated with the hymn "

Thine Be the Glory Thine Be the Glory, Risen Conquering Son (French: ''À toi la gloire O Ressuscité''), also titled Thine Is the Glory, is a Christian hymn for Easter, written by the Swiss Protestant minister, Edmond Budry (1854–1932), and set to the tune of ...

", is traditionally used as the recessional hymn of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Saint Patrick's Cathedral ( ir, Ard-Eaglais Naomh Pádraig) in Dublin, Ireland, founded in 1191 as a Roman Catholic cathedral, is currently the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral, also a Church of Ireland ...

. This is broadcast live each year on Christmas Eve on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

. The usual (first) three verses are divided into six verses, each with chorus. The arrangement features a brass fanfare with drums in addition to the cathedral organ, and takes about seven and a half minutes to sing. The Victorian organist

W. H. Jude William Herbert Jude (1851–1922), usually credited as W.H. Jude, was an English composer and organist. Born in Westleton, Suffolk in September 1851, his parents later moved to Norfolk.Osbeck, Kenneth W., ''101 more hymn stories'', (Kregel Publ ...

, in his day a popular composer, also composed a new setting of the work, published in his ''Music and the Higher Life''.''Hark! The Herald Angels Sing''
National Library of Australia.

Footnotes

;Notes ;Citations

External links