I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

 There is a wonderful old tradition that is hardly done any more, the ringing of the church bells on Christmas Eve. The tradition was that at midnight they would start ringing the bells in a slow, mournful rhythm. This was to represent the death of Satan’s hold on us. Then dramatically the rhythm would change to a quicker, more joyful sound. This would be the announcement of Christ’s birth.  

The ringing of the bells on Christmas was a great comfort to one of America’s great poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. On the Christmas Eve of 1963, the slow mournful cadence of the start of the ringing of the bells inspired Henry to write, “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” (See words below)

Henry’s public life was great; he was a college professor in Boston. He had become America’s most outstanding poet by writing, “The Song of Hiawatha,” “The Courtship of Miles Standish,” and the “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” He was invited to England and given an honorary doctorate from Oxford and Cambridge plus a visit to Windsor Castle to visit Queen Victoria. 

Henry’s personal life was not going as well. His first wife died within a couple of years of them getting married and he mourned her greatly, it took him seven years before he married again. They had five children. However, tragedy struck again in 1961, his second wife died while lighting a fire in the kitchen, she was burned up along with the kitchen. Then later that year the civil war broke out. Henry was very much against the war and wrote many articles against it. The last straw was when his oldest son Charles was injured during a battle. He was sent home to his father’s house to recover. While sitting at his son’s bedside that Christmas Eve in 1963 he heard the local church bells ring that slow mournful sound. This touched his heart.  This is one of the few Christmas carols that is not upbeat, which can be understood from the circumstances behind it. However, look at verse 4, he has hope, and he puts his trust in God. That is all God asks even when we do not understand, we are to put our trust in Him.

 1. I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

2. I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

3. And in despair I bowed my head
'There is no peace on earth,' I said,
'For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.'

4. Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.'

5. Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I’ll be Home for Christmas

During the Christmas season of 1942, Kim Gannon, who lived in Brooklyn, noticed that this Christmas was quite different. It was the War, World War II. Once America was in it, the people thought that they would go over there and kick out the Nazis and be back home. However, they were realizing that it was not going to be that easy. People hung on every scrap of news about every battle and prayed that their loved ones were not there. The people also held their breath and said a little prayer as the telegraph boy went by, praying that the news of a dead relative was not in his pouch. They also mobbed the postman in hopes of a letter from their loved ones. With the news of all the loss and destruction, the American people had doubts that they could win this war.

Another thing was that 100 of thousands of fathers, who could not go to war, had moved to the New York and New Jersey areas to work in the factories that were producing war material. They had left the farms and rural areas because the depression of the years before had left very few jobs available and when the factories re-tooled for war, there were jobs again. Thus, there were all these families torn apart by the war.

Mrs. Gannon personally saw some of these scenes play out before her very eyes. That is what made her come up with this simple prayer poem where she captured the thoughts of the whole nation. She showed the poem to a few people and they got her in contact with a fellow New Yorker, Walter Kent, who had recently written the song “White Cliffs of Dover.” Mr. Kent could feel the mood of the song and quickly wrote the score for it. 

In Sept of 1943, Bing Crosby’s record company bought “I’ll be home for Christmas” and recorded it in October. They were look for another Christmas hit for Bing because the year before Bing had came out with the hit “White Christmas.” “White Christmas” was the number one selling record of all time until “Candles in the Wind” by Elton John after Princes Dianna’s death. However, during the war years, “I’ll be home for Christmas” was the number one requested song of that time, over “White Christmas” also the USO reports that next to “God Bless America,”  “I’ll be Home for Christmas” is the number one requested song at USO shows still today.

We Three Kings of Orient Are

You would never guess but this carol’s background comes from Santa Clause. It is true, Clement Clarke Moore, who wrote “Twas the night before Christmas,” was also the son of an Anglican Bishop. Clement was a land developer in New York City and wrote the famous poem after a sleigh ride trip from his home. The poem made him very famous and wealthy. 

The Anglican Church had voted to start a Seminary in America and Clement, being a famous Anglican, was sought out by the church for this project. Clement owned a large estate on the wooded North end of Manhattan, which he gave a portion of for the start of the Seminary. 

Much later, a young man named John Hopkins went to this seminary then named, General seminary. He later became the Music professor for the seminary. The school had a tradition that they would perform a Christmas pageant every year, and John was in charge of the music. In 1857, John wrote “We Three Kings of Orient Are” for the annual pageant. The carol quickly caught on and was published in a Caroling book in 1867. John wrote many other carols and hymns but none is remembered like this one. It all goes back to Santa Clause and the night before Christmas song.

Silent Night

I can not do a series of Blogs on Christmas traditions without including Christmas Carols, and the most famous one of all; Silent Night.  The word “Carol” was given to a popular dance of the 14^th century.  As time went on the dancer would sing to the rhythm of their movements.  As time continued the word carol become more associated with the songs they sang than the dance.  Some of the older carols have the same rhythms as they used to dance to such as “Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly,” and “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.”

“Silent Night” was written by a Lutheran village priest in Germany.  What happened was the priest was informed that the church organ was broken on Christmas Eve afternoon.  He was all upset because there would be no music for the Christmas Eve service that evening.  He remember he had an old guitar, and with the help of the music minister they came up with a melody for guitar and four verse that they used in their Christmas Eve services that evening.  When the organ repair man came to fix the organ he asked them what they had done for music on their Christmas Eve service and they explained they had written a song for guitar and played it for him.  He loved the song an asked for a copy of it, which they gave him.  Being an organ repair man he went to a lot of different churches and would talk with the churches about what had happened and then would give them a copy of the song.  Needless to say the song quickly spread and has become the most beloved Christmas carol. 

Another tradition that goes along with “Silent Night” is ending the Christmas Eve Service with lighting candles and singing “Silent Night.” This comes from a Catholic Church service, usually performed in Monasteries, called Vespers.  It was more informal than the other services they held throughout the day, with some Bible reading and songs.  Many of the people of the area would come to this service and it was very popular.  To end the service a Monk would light a large white candle and all the Parishioners would then bring a small candle and light them.  After all the candles were lit they would sing a song and leave.  The big White candle was to represent Jesus Christ and that He was the light of the world.  All the small candles were to represent the individual soul that Christ had saved, and them leaving with the light was to represent taking Christ to the world.  As time went on “Silent Night” became the traditional song to sing.  This is a beautiful tradition that most people love, but do not know the reason why it is done.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

“O Little Town of Bethlehem” was written by Phillips Brooks one of the most famous preachers of his time. His nickname was the” Prince of the Pulpit.”  He had many publications, from sermons to helps for young pastors, but is most known now for his Christmas Carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

The song was inspired by a trip he took as a young pastor to the Holy Land. On Christmas Eve 1865, Brooks took the short horse ride from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. He rode through the quiet streets of Bethlehem then took a short jaunt out to the fields where it is believed the angels told the Shepherd’s about Jesus. From there he rode back to the traditional site of Jesus’ birth and attended the Christmas Eve services. 

In 1868, Brooks was back pastoring his church in Philadelphia. He wanted a new carol for the children to sing for their Sunday School Christmas program. Unable to find anything he liked, he penned the words for “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” The poem was greatly influenced by his Christmas Eve three years earlier, as seen in his words. 

Brooks gave the words to his organist and Sunday School Superintendent Lewis H. Render and asked him to write a simple, easy tune so the children could learn it easily and remember. Render struggled for a long time to come up with the perfect tune for the carol because he knew it was something special. The night before the program he was woken up and quickly got up and composed the present melody. Render always insisted that the tune was a gift from Heaven. Needless to say, the carol was an instant hit with both the children and adults. 

O Holy Night

“O Holy Night” is a French carol written by an almost unknown man, Cappeau de Roquemaure. He was a wine missionaire for a small town in France. He was most known for his poetry, but had poor church attendance. That is why it surprised everyone that the local priest asked him to write a poem for the Christmas Mass. 

Cappeau was much honored to be asked to write a poem for the church and he wanted to do his best. He wanted to make sure it was religious and focused on the Christmas story. He studied Luke’s account of the Nativity story. On one of his trips to Paris to order wine, he imaged what it would be like to be a witness of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem so many years ago. By the time he had reached Paris, he had the poem finished. 

He was so moved by the poem that he knew it needed to be more than just a poem. Therefore, he got a friend, Adolph Charles Adams a master musician, to write the score. Adolph was a Jew and was quite moved by the lyrics of the birth of Christ and felt complied to write the music for this holiday that he did not celebrate. He worked quickly and the priest was quite pleased. The song was performed three weeks later for the Christmas Mass. The carol was a huge success and quickly a staple of Christmas masses all over France. It was later found out that Adams was a Jew and Cappeau had poor church attendance due to his socialistic view. The Catholic Church banned the carol from being sung in service again.

Not until John Sullivan Dwight found the coral again in French and translated into English was it sang again. John was trained at Harvard Divinity School and even took a job as minister in Cambridge, Ma. However, John had one major problem; he started to get physically sick during every sermon. The panic attacks became worse to the point that he could not even go out into public. Therefore, John took to writing and publishing music. It was during his studies is when he found “O Holy Night”

One final item of note, in 1906 Reginald Fessenden the former chief chemist for Thomas Edison, used a new generator and microphone and broadcast the first human voice over the air waves (at this time the radios were used to send different codes of dot and dashes). He read the Luke version of the Nativity then he picked up the his violin and played “O Holy Night” Thus the first song ever played on the radio was “O Holy Night”

Joy to the World

The story behind “Joy to the World” is that it took almost one hundred years to be completed by two of the most influential music writers of their day. The first writer is Isaac Watts who was born in England in 1674. Isaac’s father was a reformer for the Protestant church and was often jailed and persecuted for his stance against the Church of England, in fact his father was in prison for his birth. Isaac also was a reformist, but in the form of church music. The songs of the church in Isaac’s day were limited to chants of the Psalms. Isaac’s father challenged him to write more modern hymns using less archaic language. Isaac took this challenge to heart and wrote over 600 hymns in his lifetime and many more poems. Many of the hymns are still sung in churches today.

Early on in his hymn writing, Isaac met with great resistance. He finally got a job at a church in London and quickly moved up the ranks to the head pastor. Here is where his hymns were finally meet with approval. While studying Psalm 98, which says, “Make a Joyful Noise,” Isaac was inspired to write a 4-stanza poem called “Joy to the World.”     

Forty-four years after Isaac Watts’ death, Lowell Mason was born in New Jersey. He was trained in classical music with a love of Hayden and Handle. He stayed for a while in the New Jersey area as church choir director and music teacher but decided that was not a way to make a living. Therefore, he moved to Savannah, Georgia and became a banker by day and on weekends a church choir director and composer. He composed several classical music arrangements and sent them off to a publisher in Boston. They were rejected at first, but in 1827, a publisher printed his music and the Hayden and Handle society ordered 50,000 copies. He quickly moved to Boston where he was the toast of the town for over 20 years. He was also a revolutionary, like Watts, Mason wanted to get music to the youth so they would appreciate it, but was running into all kinds of walls. Therefore, he took his own money and started the first public school music program. Like Watts, he also wrote more than 600 hymns. 

While reworking parts of Handel’s Messiah, Mason wrote a tune he called Antioch that had no words to fit the tune. It took three years for Mason to finally use Watt’s Poem “Joy to the World.” The carol did not become popular until in the infancy (1911) of records. Victor’s recording produced a record with the Trinity Choir singing “Joy to the World,” and the rest is history.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Charles Wesley was born in England, the youngest of eighteen children. He grew up to be England’s premier Christian Poet and hymn writer, writing more than three thousand hymns. Many of which are still sung today, such as “Jesus Christ has Risen Today.” 

In 1737 during his quiet time, Wesley wrote the first line “Hark! How all the welkin rings, glory to the King of Kings.” The new song quickly came together. Welkin is a word that means literally, heaven makes a long noise. Alternatively, heaven makes a long pronouncement. Wesley titled his new song “Hark! How all the Welkin Rings” Wesley used a tune of his own and started using it in his own church. It quickly spread across England. 

It was first published by on old college rival of the Wesley brothers’ John Whitefield. The Wesleys started the Methodist moment in England; however, John Whitefield was a staunch Calvinist. Their theological differences drove a wedge between them. When Whitefield published the hymn, he changed the name and the lyrics to what we know today. This infuriated Wesley, that Whitefield changed words with out his permission or his knowledge. As long as Wesley was alive, he never sang the Whitefield version.

Later, (1855) William Cummings, a tenor in Felix Mendelssohn’s opera company, changed the tune of Wesley’s carol to one of Mendelssohn tunes and used the Whitefield version of lyrics. This is the version we still sing today.