Veni, Veni Emmanuel is a synthesis of the great "O Antiphons" that are used for Vespers during the octave before Christmas (Dec. 17-23). These antiphons are of ancient origin and date back to at least the ninth century. The hymn itself was composed in the 12th century in French and the Latin version of the hymn is from the 18th century. There are several arrangements of this hymn. The one below gives all seven verses in the order in which the antiphons appear during the octave before Christmas.
O COME, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that morns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
R: Rejoice! Rejoice! O Israel,
to thee shall come Emmanuel!
O COME, Thou Wisdom, from on high,
and order all things far and nigh;
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go. R.
O COME, o come, Thou Lord of might,
who to thy tribes on Sinai's height
in ancient times did give the law,
in cloud, and majesty, and awe. R.
O COME, Thou Rod of Jesse's stem,
form ev'ry foe deliver them
that trust Thy mighty power to save,
and give them vict'ry o'er the grave. R.
O COME, Thou Key of David, come,
and open wide our heav'nly home,
make safe the way that leads on high,
that we no more have cause to sigh. R.
O COME, Thou Dayspring from on high,
and cheer us by thy drawing nigh;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night
and death's dark shadow put to flight. R.
O COME, Desire of the nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind;
bid every strife and quarrel cease
and fill the world with heaven's peace. R.
Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
This 16th Century English Carol is Mary's lament over the impending demise of her infant son after Herod declared that all infant boys in the region should be killed.
I first heard this carol only a few years ago when I had the privilege of soloing in a Christmas Eve service at St. Andrews Episcopal, here in Stillwater. I was quite taken with it. This particular performance is by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.
I've sung this aria on several occasions, and it has always been among my favorites. This particular performance features a countertenor and is one of the finest performances of the aria that I've ever heard.
Jay Carter, countertenor, Choir of Trinity Church Wall Street, Rebel Baroque Orchestra, Owen Burdick, Conductor
Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Christopher Hogwood: Conductor
Paul Elliott: Tenor
The Academy of Ancient Music
Messiah "Comfort ye, Comfort ye My people" & "Every valley shall be exalted"
The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree
His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.
For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
I missed of all but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the apple tree.
I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.
This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.
A newborn child with eyes so bright You are, indeed, a wondrous sight Your skin is soft; your features small But, you are loved by one and all I know tears fell from cherubs’ eyes As they embraced you with goodbyes Before you flew from high above To grace us with God’s gift of love.
~ Jill Eisnaugle
Gloucester Cathedral Choir: In the Bleak MidwinterRead more...
Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.~ Roald Dahl
"Like so many early Christmas songs, this carol was written as a direct reaction to the music of the fifteenth century church," writes Ace Collins, in Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas. It was the most popular of the early carols, sung for centuries before being published in Britain in 1833, when it appeared in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, a collection of seasonal carols gathered by William B. Sandys, though its incipit was in William Hone's "List of Christmas carols now annually printed" in Ancient Mysteries Described, 1823. The author is unknown.
It is referred to in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, 1843: "...at the first sound of — "God bless you merry, gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!"— Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action, that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost."
Information Source: Wikipedia
This recording features Loreena McKennitt performing the traditional carol employing the use of ancient instruments. It has a very distinct Middle Eastern flavor that makes this performance very unusual and compelling.
The original Broadway Lancelot. The man with the golden voice. No one could sing it like Robert Goulet. If you really want a treat I encourage you to go over to his official website and click onto the link of his holiday favorites, (or click onto the direct link that I've provided below). They've graciously posted an entire MP3 album of Goulet's holiday hits!
Robert Gerard Goulet (November 26, 1933 – October 30, 2007) was a Canadian-American Grammy- and Tony Award- winning entertainer. He rose to international stardom in 1960 as Lancelot in Lerner and Loewe's hit Broadway musical Camelot. His long career as a singer and actor encompassed theatre, radio, television and film. Enjoying most of his career in the United States, he later took permanent residence there (Goulet was an American citizen, having been born in Massachusetts and raised in the United States until the age of 13). He did seek Canadian citizenship later in life, owing to his parentage.
On September 30, 2007, Goulet was hospitalized in Las Vegas, where he was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, "a rare but rapidly progressive and potentially fatal condition." On October 13, 2007, he was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after it was determined he "would not survive without an emergency lung transplant."
Goulet died October 30 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, while awaiting a lung transplant. He was 73 years old.
Information Source: Wikipedia
Click hereto hear more of Mr. Goulet's Holiday favorites!
Robert Goulet sings the Cesar Franck Panis AngelicusRead more...
Holiday Inn is a 1942 film starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, which featured the music of Irving Berlin. The film features twelve new songs, one brief use of "Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," written in 1917 for the World War I musical "Yip Yip Yaphank" which was reprised on Broadway in 1942 under the title "This Is the Army" and a complete reuse of "Easter Parade," written for the 1933 Broadway review "As Thousands Cheer". An original song from this movie is "White Christmas", a tune that is still very popular in the United States.
The song that would eventually become "White Christmas" was originally conceived by Berlin on the set of the film Top Hat in 1935. He allegedly hummed the melody to Astaire and the film's director Mark Sandrich as a song possibility for a future Astaire-Ginger Rogers vehicle. Astaire loved the tune, but Sandrich passed on it. Berlin's assignment for Paramount was to write a song about each of the major holidays of the year. He found that writing a song about Christmas was the most challenging. When Crosby first heard Berlin play "White Christmas" in 1941 at the first rehearsals, he did not immediately recognize its full potential. Crosby simply said, "I don't think we have any problems with that one, Irving."
The Boys Choir of Harlem (also known as the Harlem Boys Choir) is a choir located in Harlem, New York City, United States.
Founded in 1968 by Dr. Walter Turnbull at the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in Harlem, the choir grew to be more than just a performing group. The Choir Academy of Harlem also for some time ran a school overseen by the New York City Department of Education and had at its peak a student body of over 500 boys and girls, though they were evicted from the school facility in 2006.
The choir is internationally known. Performers receive rigorous voice training and perform many types of music, including classical, hip-hop, R&B, jazz, and gospel music. Over 150,000 people see the choir live each year across the United States as well as in Canada, France, Japan, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The Boys Choir of Harlem are also the recipients of a Grammy. Unlike its Austrian cousin, the Vienna Boys Choir, the Boys Choir of Harlem does not adhere to a policy of including those young men who have not reached puberty. The range of the music performed is such that it requires natural boy sopranos whose voices have not yet changed and more mature voices of teenagers like tenor and bass voices.
The choir has performed on soundtracks for films including Glory, Malcolm X and many Spike Lee films and has performed for Presidents at the White House, and dignitaries at the United Nations. It also performed live for the visits of Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II. It performed on Chicago rapper Kanye West's song, "Two Words" and "Jesus Walks." The choir also performed "America the Beautiful" to open WrestleMania XX. Following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the choir performed "God Bless America" at the Cantor Fitzgerald memorial service in Central Park, as seen in In Memoriam: New York City 9/11/01. The boys' voices have also appeared on albums with Michael Jackson, Kathleen Battle, Luciano Pavarotti, Quincy Jones, Kiss and many more.
In 1995 they performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True a musical performance of the popular story at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT), and issued on CD and video in 1996.
The choir for many years enjoyed the sponsorship of the City of New York, which gave them free use of the Arthur Schomburg School on East 127th Street in Harlem by former NYC Mayor David Dinkins. However, the choir has lost this support through a series of scandals. First, a lack of financial controls led to the program running up a $5 million deficit. Second, in 2001, the choir's chief counselor sexually abused a student and Dr. Turnbull did not fire him or report the abuse to authorities. As a result, in early 2006 Dr. Turnbull and other choir staff were kicked out of their long-time home. The Choir has now relocated to the Metropolitan Community Methodist Church.
The majority of the choir's members are African American or Hispanic.
Dr. Walter Turnbull died at age 62 on March 23, 2007 in a New York City hospital. He had reportedly suffered a stroke months earlier.
Information Source: Wikipedia
This video features Soprano Kathleen Battle with the Harlem Boys Choir in the mid 1990's.
Mere words cannot describe the emotion that surges through me when I listen to someone sing this fabulous Mozart "Laudamus Te" from his Great C Minor Mass with such energy, joy, and enthusiasm! This is how Mozart is to be sung! Brava, Ms. Fleming!
