OUR ATTEMPT TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. We would like to use this page to share information on famous songs we all know and have all grown to love. Page added to: November, 2007 Entry of 2007 . The evergreen has been used as a symbol of eternal life since ancient days, beginning with the Egyptians, Chinese and Hebrews. The Romans adorned trees with decorations and gifts during their winter festival called Saturnalia. During the Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire, the Goths adopted some of the Roman customs, and returned to Germany with them. The custom of decorating trees in our homes as part of our Christmas festivities arose in Germany, during the lifetime of Martin Luther. Tradition has it that Martin Luther himself may have originated the practice, following a walk through the forest on Christmas Eve, when the stars shining through the evergreen trees impressed him so much that he attempted to show his family a sight like it by cutting down an evergreen and decoratiing it with lighted candles. The tradition of the Christmas tree came to America with the Hessian [German] mercenaries who fought with the British during the American Revolutionary War. Today, the decorated tree custom is the most universal Christmas holiday decoration around the world. This is the second most famous German language Christmas song, next to "Silent Night". The melody we use today was first published in "Melodien zum Mildheimischen Liederbuche" in 1799 for a song titled "Es lebe Doch", and the original words were first published by August Zarnack in Berlin in 1820, but we do not know for sure who wrote the words to the famous first verse of this song. We do know that German poet Ernst Gebhard Anschutz wrote the second and third stanzas of the song in 1824 Entry of 2006 “Joy to the World” The music for this carol is commonly attributed to George Frederick Handel. (Oh contrare mon ami.) It was actually composed by a local, Lowell Mason, of Medfield, Massachusetts. Mason was a prolific composer of hymn tunes that were published in over 40 collections. Lowell Mason was a prominent music educator in the Boston area and in 1832, seven years before he published the hymn, he founded the Boston Academy of Music for the purpose of teaching music to the masses. Mason went on to obtain the title of “Father of American Church and Public School Music”. Mason co-founded the New York Normal Institute with George F. Root and William B. Bradbury for the purpose of training music teachers. In 1855 he received the very first honorary “ Doctor of Music” degree in America. Though the triumphant words “Joy to the World” exemplify the Christmas feeling, this familiar text is actually a translation based on five verses from psalm 98 in the Old Testament. Isaac Watts, the English hymnist and cleric, published his Psalms of David which contains these verses in 1719. More than a century later in 1839, American composer and music educator, Lowell Mason, decided to set them to music, modestly including the phrase “from Geo. Frederick Handel, apparently to honor his idol, the composer of “Messiah” and many other masterpieces. For nearly one hundred years, the world excepted this ascription, until musicologists pointed out that not a single phrase in the music can be said to have come straight from any work of Handel’s. Bob Brown - 508 951 1229 (C) Sally Judge - 781 828 5778 (H) |