“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is a
Christmas carolA Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
that first appeared in 1739 in the collection
Hymns and Sacred Poems, having been written by
Charles WesleyCharles Wesley was an English leader of the Methodist movement, son of Anglican clergyman and poet Samuel Wesley, the younger brother of Anglican clergyman John Wesley and Anglican clergyman Samuel Wesley , and father of musician Samuel Wesley, and grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley...
. This is
not the version widely known today. A sombre man, Wesley had requested and received slow and solemn music for his lyrics, not the joyful tune we now expect. What is more, Wesley's original opening couplet is "Hark! how all the
welkinWelkin is an archaic, English term; it refers to the sky, the upper air, the firmament, the heavens or the Celestial sphere. Especially the highest celestial sphere e.g...
rings / Glory to the King of Kings".
The popular version is the result of alterations by various hands, notably
George WhitefieldGeorge Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
, Wesley's co-worker, who changed the opening couplet to the familiar one, and
Felix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
. A hundred years after the publication of
Hymns and Sacred Poems, in 1840, Mendelssohn composed a cantata to commemorate Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, 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 we know and love today.
Tune
In 1855, English musician William H. Cummings adapted
Felix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's secular music from Festgesang to fit the lyrics of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" written by Charles Wesley. Wesley envisioned the song being sung to the same tune as his song
Christ the Lord Is Risen TodayChrist 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 Songs by Charles and John Wesley in 1739...
, and in some hymnals, is included along with the more popular version.
This hymn was regarded as one of the
Great Four Anglican HymnsThe "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 Communion around the world, and found that 51 of them...
and published as number 403 in "
The Church Hymn Book" (New York and Chicago, USA, 1872).
In the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
,
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
sopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
descantDescant or discant can refer to several different things in music, depending on the period in question; etymologically, the word means a voice above or removed from others....
and a
last verse harmonisationLast verse harmonisation is a technique of hymn accompaniment used by church organists. As the name suggests, this is a practice whereby the last verse of a hymn tune will be accompanied on the organ with an alternative harmony supporting the melody, which remains unchanged...
for the organ in verse 3 by Sir David Willcocks. This arrangement was first published in 1961 by
Oxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
in the first book of the
Carols for ChoirsCarols for Choirs, published by Oxford University Press, edited by Sir David Willcocks with Reginald Jacques and John Rutter, is the most widely-used source of carols in the British Anglican tradition, and among British choral societies.There are four books in the original series and a portmanteau...
series.
For many years it has served as the
recessionalRecessional may refer to:*Recessional , a novel by James A. Michener, published in 1994*"Recessional" , a poem by Rudyard Kipling*"Recessional", a song by Vienna Teng...
hymn of the annual Service of
Nine Lessons and CarolsThe Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is a format for a service of Christian worship celebrating the birth of Jesus that is traditionally followed at Christmas...
in
King's College Chapel, CambridgeKing's College Chapel is the chapel to King's College of the University of Cambridge, and is one of the finest examples of late Gothic English architecture, while its early Renaissance rood screen separating the nave and chancel, erected in 1532-36 in a striking contrast of style, has been called...
.
An uncommon arrangement of the hymn to the tune "See, the Conqu'ring hero comes" from Judas Maccabaeus (Handel) normally associated with the hymn
Thine Be the GloryThine Be the Glory, Risen Conquering Son is a popular Easter Christian hymn, written by the Swiss writer Edmond Budry and set to the tune of the chorus "See, the Conqu'ring hero comes" from the Handel oratorio Judas Maccabaeus...
is traditionally used as the
recessionalRecessional may refer to:*Recessional , a novel by James A. Michener, published in 1994*"Recessional" , a poem by Rudyard Kipling*"Recessional", a song by Vienna Teng...
hymn of the Festival of
Nine Lessons and CarolsThe Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is a format for a service of Christian worship celebrating the birth of Jesus that is traditionally followed at Christmas...
from St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. This is broadcast live each year on Christmas Eve on
RTÉ Radio 1RTÉ Radio 1 is the principal radio channel of Irish public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926...
. 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. JudeWilliam Herbert Jude , 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. He was a precocious child, and attended Wisbech Grammar School where records note that by age eight he was composing...
, in his day a popular composer, also composed a new setting of the work, published in his
Music and the Higher Life.
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