Category: Christmas Alliance

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In the Bleak Midwinter/The First Noel

I’ve long been ambivalent about the Gustav Holst tune with Rosetti’s “In the Bleak Midwinter,” but only because it seemed jarring with the last verse (more on that another time), but as a piece of music–and for all but the last verse of the poem–I appreciate it greatly. Here’s “Celtic Woman” in an absolutely beautiful instrumental rendition of the Holst tune followed by a solo/choral performance of “The First Noel”. The lyrics are followed by the performance, as usual.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

The First Noel

The First Noel, the Angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the East beyond them far
And to the earth it gave great light
And so it continued both day and night.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

And by the light of that same star
Three Wise men came from country far
To seek for a King was their intent
And to follow the star wherever it went.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

This star drew nigh to the northwest
O’er Bethlehem it took its rest
And there it did both Pause and stay
Right o’er the place where Jesus lay.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

Then entered in those Wise men three
Full reverently upon their knee
And offered there in His presence
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made Heaven and earth of nought
And with his blood mankind has bought.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

And… This version by Dan Fogelberg

In the Bleak Midwinter* – Dan Fogelberg

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Ding Dong Merrily on High

As part of The Christmas Alliance, today’s offering is “Ding Dong Merrily on High”. This Christmas carol has been one of my favs since I first heard it played by The Canadian Brass. Before, I had always heard it sung way, way too slowly and its joyous nature had been buried in the inappropriate tempos. Do note that the Jon Schmidt (yes, him again :-)) rendition streamed below is NOT suitable as accompaniment for singing. For one thing, quite apart from changes in rhythms that would make singing along impractical, the actual tempo of the melody is still too slow, but the pulsing rhythms Schmidt has added move the piece as a whole ahead at a joyous pace. His treatment is similar in that regard to the John Darnell treatment of “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” I cited earlier this Advent season.

Ding dong merrily on high,
In heav’n the bells are ringing:
Ding dong! verily the sky
Is riv’n with angel singing.
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

E’en so here below, below,
Let steeple bells be swungen,
And “Io, io, io!”
By priest and people sungen.
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

Pray you, dutifully prime
Your matin chime, ye ringers;
May you beautifully rime
Your evetime song, ye singers.
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

North Pole Express (Ding Dong Merrily on High) – Jon Schmidt / French Carol

Again, if you liked the performance, please visit Jon Schmidt’s site and purchase a copy to take along with you “Over the river and through the woods… ”

And be sure to check the special lil present beyond the jump…

Continue reading “Ding Dong Merrily on High”

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Still, Still, Still

I’m not quite sure why, but many of the Christmas songs, carols, “anthems” even, that I enjoy a great deal are lullabys. The first Christmas song I wrote–back in the day when I wrote at least one a year for my annual “Christmas cards”–was a lullaby, and most of the Christmas songs I wrote up until I stopped doing so were lullabys. I suppose the fact that I wrote my first Christmas song after I’d experienced the miracle of holding my own children, sometimes singing them to sleep–sometimes–may have something to do with it. And I suppose the paradox of the incarnation made so glaringly obvious in Philippians 2:5-11 has something to do with it as well.

Still, Still, Still
Still, still, still,
One can hear the falling snow.
For all is hushed,
The world is sleeping,
Holy Star its vigil keeping.
Still, still, still,
One can hear the falling snow.

Sleep, sleep, sleep,
‘Tis the eve of our Saviour’s birth.
The night is peaceful all around you,
Close your eyes,
Let sleep surround you.
Sleep, sleep, sleep,
‘Tis the eve of our Saviour’s birth.

Dream, dream, dream,
Of the joyous day to come.
While guardian angels without number,
Watch you as you sweetly slumber.
Dream, dream, dream,
Of the joyous day to come.

Still, Still, Still – Jon Schmidt / German Carol

Another Jon Schmidt rendition, this time a full ersion. If you like it, take time to CLICK on through to his site and purchase some mp3s. Mash up your own CD or purchase one of his to download.

Continue reading “Still, Still, Still”

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The Star Carol

The Alfred Burt Carols have rightly earned a place in the Christmas repertoire of choirs around the world. Words by Wihla Hutson and music by Alfred S. Burt wedded beautifully have been a part of twc central’s Christmases long, long before there was a “twc central.” In another Christmas Alliance post, here’s the first verse of The Star Carol, with the rest of the words at the link and a snippet of another beautiful performance by Jon Schmidt in place of voices for the music. (Note: the musical snippet starts about the last couple of musical phrases, continues with the first two. You’ll probably be able to figure it out. :-))

Long years ago on a deep winter night,
High in the heav’ns a star shone bright,
While in a manger a wee baby lay,
Sweetly asleep on a bed of hay.


The Star Carol

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The Wexford Carol

As part of The Christmas Alliance, today’s offering is The Wexford Carol, piano performance by Jon Schmidt.

Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done,
In sending His belovèd Son.
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas Day;
In Bethlehem upon the morn
There was a blest Messiah born.

The night before that happy tide
The noble virgin and her guide
Were long time seeking up and down
To find a lodging in the town.
But mark how all things came to pass:
From every door repelled, alas!
As long foretold, their refuge all
Was but a humble oxen stall.

Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep;
To whom God’s angels did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear.
“Prepare and go”, the angels said,
“To Bethlehem, be not afraid;
For there you’ll find, this happy morn,
A princely Babe, sweet Jesus born.”

With thankful heart and joyful mind,
The shepherds went the babe to find,
And as God’s angel has foretold,
They did our Savior Christ behold.
Within a manger He was laid,
And by His side the virgin maid
Attending to the Lord of Life,
Who came on earth to end all strife.

Wexford Carol – Jon Schmidt / Irish Carol

(And do see below the fold)

Trackposted to The Pink Flamingo, Leaning Straight Up, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Allie is Wired, Democrat=Socialist, Woman Honor Thyself, and The World According to Carl, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Continue reading “The Wexford Carol”

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Christmas Alliance 2008

ANNOUNCEMENT! The Carnival of Christmas is up. Kat has done a beautiful job of rounbding up and presenting a wonderful collection of Christmas posts. Merry Christmas!

NOTE: This is a “sticky post”; for newer posts, see directly below. From now until Christmas, it’ll be all Christmas music, all the time, here at third world county. No longer “sticky” as of 12-26-08.

carnivalofchristmas2008-lrg

To participate in this year’s Christmas Alliance, see Kat’s post.

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Merry Christmas: On the Gripping Hand

So many reports this year of a “Merry Christmas War” between the factions of traditionalism on one hand and secularism on the other. On the gripping hand… Three years ago on another blog, I wrote the following.

Here’s a thought/shade of memory that’s almost always present whenever I say “Merry Christmas.” I can recall vividly the many times that I witnessed my maternal grandfather openly, extravagantly displaying the Christmas spirit—at all times of the year, in all kinds of places. Here’s a typical memory that surfaces or floats in the background whenever I say “Merry Christmas” to someone… and why it does.

Whenever I visited my maternal grandparents as a child or youth and the visit encompassed a Sunday, we went out to eat for Sunday “dinner” (lunch to much of the country :-)). Invariably, Dad-Dad would be the last to our table and the last out the door because he had to stop and chat briefly with every person he saw. The conversation, if it were with a stranger, would always at some point allow Dad-Dad (allow, nothing—he made it so! :-)) to bring up Jesus Christ, his Savior and Lord. Many of those conversations resulted in brief prayers and an exchange of contact information.

You see, Dad-Dad knew that the meaning and message of Christmas wasn’t some warm, fuzzy , nebulous “goodwill to men” that we share at a holiday time, or a time of sharing love with family and friends. No, the meaning of Christmas is the Incarnation and all that implies: sinful man, doomed to an eternity in hell; a loving God who became man in the form of a baby boy in order to redeem this sinful world by His life and propitiary death, and to provide victory and hope through His resurrection.

When I asked him one time why he always stopped to talk to so many people, many of whom he did not—before!—know, on the way to his table (or out the door), he told me that he didn’t want to be the one—missed!—opportunity that perhaps one person may have had to hear the gospel.

“Merry Christmas” is a prayer that God will bless the hearer with a saving knowledge of the life and work, the death, burial and resurrection, the daily presence of One who

” …being in the form of God, did not think being equal with God something to cling to, but made Himself of no reputation, became a servant, coming as a man, And as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross…”

That’s the message “Merry Christmas” holds for those who know Him: We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior. The Light of the World, the Hope of the Nations.

Peace, goodwill toward men.

Merry Christmas.

Noted at The Christmas Alliance. REMINDER: check out The Carnival of Christmas at Cathouse Chat.

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The Gift

The Gift

Trees and lights and bells and carols;
Bright-wrapped packages, piled high;
Winter’s sharp blow joins the heralds:
“Christmas-time is nigh!”

Mailmen hurry; shoppers scurry;
Time is fleeing – Oh! So fast!
Parties gather, loud and merry,
Grander than in Christmas’ past.

Pause a moment to remember
That a Savior’s simple birth
Still stirs angel wings in susur’–
“Peace to men; good will on earth!”

Now the Father’s hands that molded
The first Adam in the clay,
Gently ’round a manger folded,
Cradle a Baby in the hay.

So the Greatest Gift extended,
Gift of love and peace to all,
“God’s great love to man descended”
Calls us to a manger stall.

©1990 David Needham

Noted at The Christmas Alliance and submitted to The Carnival of Christmas, hosted this year by Cathouse Chat

Continue reading “The Gift”

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Who Is He in Yonder Stall?

Benjamin Russell Hanby is probably best known in popular society, if at all, for the great yawner, “Up On the Housetop” (click, click, click…), that merry paean to “Old Saint Nick” often sung at the yuletide.

But Hanby had a deeper side. In fact, he wrote one of the clearest expositions of the life and work of Christ that is available in easily accessible song, “Who Is He in Yonder Stall.”

Who is He in yonder stall
At whose feet the shepherds fall?
Who is He, in deep distress,
Fasting in the wilderness?

Refrain:

‘Tis the Lord, O wondrous story!
‘Tis the Lord, the King of glory;
At His feet, we humbly fall,
Crown Him, crown Him Lord of all!

Who is He the people bless?
For His words of gentleness?
Who is He to whom they bring?
All the sick and sorrowing?

(Refrain)

Who is He that stands and weeps
At the grave where Lazarus sleeps?
Who is He the gathering throng
Greet with loud triumphant song?

(Refrain)

Lo, at midnight who is He
Prays in dark Gethsemane?
Who is He on yonder tree
Dies in grief and agony?

(Refrain)

Who is He that from the grave
Comes to heal and help and save?
Who is He that from his throne
Rules through all the world alone?

Refrain:

‘Tis the Lord, O wondrous story!
‘Tis the Lord, the King of glory;
At His feet, we humbly fall,
Crown Him, crown Him Lord of all!

I prefer hearing this sung as a series of questions posed by various choirs and soloists with the refrain sung once at the end in answer to all the questions posed, but that’s not how Hanby wrote it, so usually when I selected this hymn for use, I’d just have the congregation sing it as Hanby wrote it: one verse (question) and the answer repeated again and again in the refrain.

It’s a simple story, simply told and easily grasped.

‘Tis the Lord, O wondrous story!
‘Tis the Lord, the King of glory;
At His feet, we humbly fall,
Crown Him, crown Him Lord of all!

Here’s an excerpt of the song as performed (I think–don’t hold me to this) in the early 1990s by the Moody Bible Institute choir/band:



Click here for standalone player

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