Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 7 - Up Good Christen Folk

Up Good Christen Folk is based on a medieval song that was part of a collection compiled in Finland and first published in Sweden in 1582 as Piae Cantiones (Pious Songs). This collection contains Latin songs that were sung at that time in cathedral schools in Finland, many of which are still part of the repertoire of Swedish and Finnish choirs today. In 1853 a copy of Piae Cantiones was given to the composer John Mason Neale by G. J. R. Gordon, Her Majesty's Envoy and Minister at Stockholm. Neale then passed the book along to choirmaster Thomas Helmore. Helmore adapted the carol melodies and Neale either paraphrased the carol lyrics into English or wrote entirely new verse. Twelve revised selections from Piae Cantiones were then published as Carols for Christmastide (1853). In 1901 one of these carols was arranged for choir by the composer George Ratcliffe Woodward - who also provided the English text - and Up Good Christen Folk, as we know it today, appeared for the first time in The Cowley Carol Book (1902).

The carol is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ asking the “good Christen folk” to get up and listen to the bells ringing to welcome and adore him. (notes from FeeNotes.com)

Ding-dong, ding:

Ding-a-dong-a-ding:

Ding-dong, ding-dong:

Ding-a-dong-ding.

1. Up! good Christen folk, and listen

How the merry church bells ring,

And from steeple

Bid good people

Come adore the new-born King:

2. Tell the story how from glory

God came down at Christmastide,

Bringing gladness,

Chasing sadness,

Show'ring blessings far and wide.

3. Born of mother, blest o'er other,

Ex Maria Virgine,

In a stable

('Tis no fable),

Christus natus hodie.

Up Good Christen Folk - Choir of King's College, Cambridge

Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 8 - Behold That Star (An Original Jubilee Carol by Thomas Washington Talley)

Dr. Thomas W. Talley, a Tennessee native, taught chemistry and biology at Fisk University from 1903–42, after earning his high school education, an AB in 1890, and a master’s degree in 1893 at Fisk. He later chaired the chemistry department there for 25 years. After earning a Doctor of Science degree at Walden University in 1899, he did postdoctoral work at Harvard, completed a dissertation at the University of Chicago later in his life, and completed several scientific publications during his career.

As an undergraduate, he joined the Fisk Jubilee Singers with a love and commitment to performance and knowledge of Black musical traditions that lasted his entire life. This love of Black traditional music led him to collect the texts of Black rural traditional music (some with musical notation) throughout Tennessee in his later life. Published in 1922, his groundbreaking work, Negro Folk Rhymes, was the first collection of African American secular folk music, the first folklore collection compiled by a Black scholar, and the first serious collection of folksongs of any type from Tennessee. In addition, Dr. Talley produced the first significant collection of folk narratives from African American rural communities across Tennessee, which remained unpublished until 1993. (From Notable Folklorists of Color)  

Sometime in the early 1920s Florence Hudson Botsford invited Talley to contribute a song to her collection, Folk Songs of Many Peoples (1921-22). In response he sent her his original composition entitled Behold That Star. Talley’s song entered the Christmas music repertoire and was widely reprinted in anthologies. On November 30, 1958, the piece was performed on a national broadcast by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, with Leontyne Price singing. By this time the song had become so pervasive that Talley's name had been detatched from it, and Bernstein announced that he regretted that he did not know who had composed the song. And in the liner notes to his album Traditional Christmas Songs (1967), Pete Seeger writes that Behold That Star was "composed by a black musician [not named] in Tennessee about 1930." As we've stated above, Talley's original words and music for the spiritual were published in 1922 in Botsford's Folk Songs of Many Peoples, Volume 2, p. 50.

Refrain

Behold that star!

Behold that star up yonder,

Behold that star!

It is the star of Bethlehem.

There was no room found in the inn.

It is the star of Bethlehem.

For Him who was born free from sin.

It is the star of Bethlehem. Refrain

The wise men travelled from the East.

It is the star of Bethlehem.

To worship Him, the Prince of Peace.

It is the star of Bethlehem. Refrain

A song broke forth upon the night.

It is the star of Bethlehem.

From angel hosts all robed in white.

It is the star of Bethlehem. Refrain

Behold That Star - Marian Anderson

Behold That Star - Martin Hargrove, bass voice

Behold That Star - Rhythmuschor Fridolfing

Twelve Day of Christmas

Day 9 - The Truth Sent from Above

The Truth Sent from Above is an English folk carol of unknown authorship, usually performed at Christmas. During the first part of the 20th century a number of English folk song collectors (people who traveled throughout England, Scotland, Wales and all their respective counties),located people who still sang songs that had come down to them by tradition, notated them, and eventually published - and therefore, preserved - these folk songs for all future generations. The texts collected for The Truth Sent from Above were all very similar. However, there were a number of variations on the tune used to sing the carol, based on the region were it was collected (mainly in Shropshire and Herefordshire). Cecil Sharp, England's most prolific folk music and dance collector, who collected and notated over 5000 English folk tunes, notated an eight stanza version of the carol from a Mr. Seth Vandrell and Mr. Samuel Bradley of Donnington Wood in Shropshire. He also found that a longer version of The Truth Sent from Above existed in a locally printed carol book. Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (also an avid folk song advocate and collector) obtained a different version of the carol at King's Pyon, Herefordshire in July 1909 with help from Ella Mary Leather, the Herefordshire folklorist who had first collected it from the local oral tradition. This version, which contains only four stanzas, is therefore sometimes referred to as the Herefordshire Carol.

This is the truth sent from above,

The truth of God, the God of love,

Therefore don't turn me from your door,

But hearken all both rich and poor.

The first thing which I do relate

Is that God did man create;

The next thing which to you I'll tell

Woman was made with man to dwell.

Thus we were heirs to endless woes,

Till God the Lord did interpose;

And so a promise soon did run

That he would redeem us by his Son

And at that season of the year

Our blest Redeemer did appear;

He here did live, and here did preach,

And many thousands he did teach.

God grant to all within this place

True saving faith, that special grace,

Which to His people doth belong;

And thus I close my Christmas song.

The Truth Sent from Above - The Gesualdo Six

Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 10 - Deck the Halls

Today's carol is as un-religious as you can get, and its origins are even further removed from what we normally associate with the holiday season. The lyrics for Deck the Halls derive from the Welsh verse Nos Galan (New Year's Eve) by John Jones (1810-69), poet and architect, who went by the bardic name Talhaiarn. Talhaiarn's verse was rendered (not really translated) into English by Thomas Oliphant around 1866. Here is the original Welsh verse, and a literal English translation:

Nos Galan / New Year’s Eve (original Welsh verse)

Goreu pleser ar nos galan / The best pleasure on new year's eve

Tŷ a thân a theulu diddan / Is house and fire and a pleasant family

Calon lân a chwrw melyn / A pure heart and blonde ale

Pennill mwyn a llais y delyn/ A gentle song and the voice of the

                                                                                           harp

And here is Thomas Oliphant's English rendering:

Deck the hall with boughs of holly, Fa, la, la, la ...

'Tis the season to be jolly, Fa, la, la, la ...

* Fill the meadcup, drain the barrel , Fa, la, la, la ...

Troll the ancient Christmas carol, Fa, la, la, la ...

* See the flowing bowl before us, Fa, la, la, la ...

Strike the harp, and join in chorus, Fa, la, la, la ...

Follow me in merry measure, Fa, la, la, la ...

While I sing of beauty's treasure, Fa, la, la, la ...

Fast away the old year passes, Fa, la, la, la ...

Hail the new, ye lads and lasses, Fa, la, la, la ...

* Laughing quaffing all together, Fa, la, la, la ...

Heedless of the wind and weather, Fa, la, la, la ...

* when the carol was published in the Pennsylvania School Journal (Dec 1877) these lines were changed so that there was no reference to drinking!

As can be seen, the English lyrics bear almost no relation to the Welsh, but are evocative of pagan traditions, such as "Yule logs" and homes decorated with holly - the tradition of decorating the home on the first day of winter goes back to the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Druids.

Turning to the tune of Deck the Halls, it is also of Welsh origin, dating back to at least the sixteenth century. One of the earliest appearances of the tune in print is from two editions (1784 & 1794) of harpist Edward Jones' Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards. The lyrics in Jones' edition - though also called Nos Galan (New Year's Night) - had nothing to do with Christmas or any New Years celebrations, but of love:

Oh! How soft my Fair one's bosom! Fa, la, la, la . . .

Oh! How sweet the grove in blossom! Fa, la, la, la . . .

Oh! How blessed are the blisses  Fa, la, la, la . . .

Words of love and mutual Kisses  Fa, la, la, la . . .

The tune belongs to the Welsh canu penillion tradition, and harkens back to the earliest meaning of the word carol: a dance. Here, the dancers would dance in a ring around the harpist. The verses would be extemporized, and a participant would drop out when he or she would fail to sing a new verse (thus a kind of "forfeits" game). Originally, the harpist would play the "answering bars" (Fa la la la la la, etc.), but these nonsense syllables were substituted when harpers began to disappear. And the line "Troul the ancient Yuletide carol" may refer to repeatedly singing verses to this tune, or to sing loudly or boldly.

Lastly, according to one source, the tune's popularity by the 18th century was so widespread that it was incorporated by Mozart and Haydn into one of their works.

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa, la, la, la ...

’Tis the season to be jolly, Fa, la, la, la ...

Don we now our gay apparel, Fa, la, la, la ...

Troll the ancient Yule-tide carol, Fa, la, la, la ...

See the blazing Yule before us, Fa, la, la, la ...

Strike the harp and join the chorus, Fa, la, la, la ...

Follow me in merry measure, Fa, la, la, la ...

While I tell of Yuletide treasure, Fa, la, la, la ...

Fast away the old year passes, Fa, la, la, la ...

Hail the new, ye lads and lasses, Fa, la, la, la ...

Sing we joyous all together, Fa, la, la, la ...

Heedless of the wind and weather, Fa, la, la, la ...

Deck the Halls - The Saltzburg Childrens Choir

Deck the Halls - Bing Crosby

Deck the Halls - Carlson School of Management Flash Mob

Twelve Day of Christmas

Day 11 - Watchman, Tell Us of the Night

Watchman, Tell Us of the Night is a beloved Christian hymn about hope and the coming of Jesus. The poem, written in 1825 by John Bowring (1792-1872), is a dialog between a Traveler and the Watchman. The Traveler asks for news of the night, and the Watchman answers, describing a glorious star heralding the dawn of God's promised day. "This hymn evokes a vivid childhood memory. Two men with deep, sonorous voices sang this song at the Christmas Eve midnight service each year for as long as I can remember. The church was dark, the watchman's solitary lantern giving the only light in a hushed sanctuary. The watchman stood at the altar, and the traveler slowly made his way down the aisle, as the two sang the question-reply verses to each other. It was hard to miss the symbolism of the lonely traveler making his way to the One Who provides light to a dark world." (from the website Hymns and Carols of Christmas)

This poem is known in two memorable settings: an 1831 version by the American composer Lowell Mason; and a music setting that uses the famous tune, Aberystwyth, written by Welsh composer Joseph Parry (in the late 1800s) which perfectly captures the anticipation of the Messiah's arrival.

1. Watchman, tell us of the night,

    What its signs of promise are.

Traveler, o'er yon mountain's height,

    See that glory beaming star.

Watchman, does its beauteous ray

    Aught of joy or hope foretell?

Traveler, yes - it brings the day,

    Promised day of Israel.

2. Watchman, tell us of the night;

    Higher yet that star ascends.

Traveler, blessedness and light,

    Peace and truth its course portends.

Watchman, will its beams alone

    Gild the spot that gave them birth?

Traveler, ages are its own;

    See, it bursts o'er all the earth.

3. Watchman, tell us of the night,

    For the morning seems to dawn.

Traveler, darkness takes its flight,

    Doubt and terror are withdrawn.

Watchman, let thy wanderings cease;

    Hie thee to thy quiet home.

Traveler, lo! the Prince of Peace,

    Lo! the Son of God is come!

Watchmen, Tell Us of the Night (Mason) - William Appling Singers

Watchmen, Tell Us of the Night (Mason) - Lillian Ember, piano

Watchmen, Tell Us of the Night (Charles Ives, based on Mason) - William Parker & Dalton Baldwin

Ives also used Mason's tune in his Symphony No. 4

Watchmen, Tell Us of the Night (Parry) - Choir of St. Peter-in-Chains Chapel, Fort Loudon, PA

Watchmen, Tell Us of the Night (Parry) - CJ Renzi, guitar

Twelve Days of Christmas

So here we are again, another winter, another holiday season, another time to enjoy the beautiful words and music this season has inspired. Off we go . . . 

Day 12 - Here We Come A-wassailing (Here We Come A-Caroling)

In her book Ancient English Christmas Carols, Edith Rickert writes that Here We Come A-wassailing  "embodies the Saxon phrases used in pledging. The former of these has survived in the refrain of the carol (Wassail, Wassail, Out of the Milk Pail), which is otherwise highly religious. In the seventeenth century the wassail was a definite institution - the carrying about of a bowl of spiced ale from house to house to drink healths in expectation of a contribution." The wassail bowl itself was a hearty combination of hot ale or beer, apples, spices and mead, just alcoholic enough to warm the tingling toes and fingers of the singers. This carol dates from at least the mid 19th century, but is probably much older. The a- in "a-wassailing" is an archaic intensifying prefix, as in "A-Hunting We Will Go" or "Six geese a-laying" (from The Twelve Days of Christmas). 

1. Here we come a wassailing

Among the leaves so green,

Here we come a wandering

So fair to be seen.

Chorus

Love and joy come to you,

And to you your wassail too,

And God bless you and send you a happy New Year.

And God send you a happy New Year.

2. Our wassail cup is made

Of the rosemary tree,

And so is your beer

Of the best barley. Chorus

3. We are not daily beggars

That beg from door to door,

But we are neighbours' children

Whom you have seen before. Chorus

4. Good Master and good Mistress,

As you sit by the fire,

Pray think of us poor children

Are wandering in the mire. Chorus

5. We have a little purse

Made of ratching leather skin;

We want some of your small change

To line it well within. Chorus

6. Call up the Butler of this house,

Put on his golden ring;

Let him bring us a glass of beer,

And the better we shall sing. Chorus

7. Bring us out a table,

And spread it with a cloth;

Bring us out a mouldy cheese,

And some of your Christmas loaf. Chorus

8. God bless the Master of this house,

Likewise the Mistress too;

And all the little children

That round the table go. Chorus

9. Good master and good mistress,

while you're sitting by the fire,

pray think of us poor children

who are wandering in the mire.

Here We Come A-wassailing - Ian Giles

Here We Come A-wassailing - Theatre of Voices

. . . and a more earthy variation . . .

Here We Come A-wassailing - The Watersons

Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green

Here we come a-wandering so fairly to be seen

Now is winter time, strangers travel far and near

And we wish you, send you a happy New Year!

Bud and blossom, bud and blossom, bud and bloom and bear

So we may have plenty of cider all next year

Hatfuls and in capfuls and in bushel-bags and all

And the cider running out of every gutter hole.

Down here in the muddy lane there sits an old red fox

Starving and a-shivering and licking his old chops.

Bring us out your table and spread it if you please,

And give us hungry wassailers a bit of bread and cheese.

I’ve got a little purse and it’s made of leather skin.

A little silver sixpence would line it well within.

Now is winter-time, strangers travel far and near

And we wish you, send you a happy New Year!

Twelve Day of Christmas

The Epiphany - The Three Kings

 - Drie Koningen zagen een sterre

 - Drie koningen, drie koningen geef mij een nieuwe hoed

Epiphany is the Christian holiday that celebrates the biblical story of the Three Kings from the east. They follow the star to Bethlehem and find the baby Jesus there. In the Netherlands there are songs sung on the Epiphany by children dressed as the Three Kings: Caspar, Balthasar and Melchior. The children traditionally go door to door, sing a song at each house and in return receive something tasty, or even some money. The centuries-old tradition still exists, although there are not nearly as many children as in the past who make the Epiphany procession, in the dark, with a homemade lantern, walking through the streets in the evening, singing.

Here are two Dutch songs sung on the Epiphany . . . 

Er kwamen drie koningen met ene ster

    Three kings came with a star

Zij kwamen van bij en zij kwamen van ver

    They came from near and they came from far

Zij kwamen de hoge berg opgegaan

    They came up the high mountain

Zij vonden de sterre daar stille staan

    They found the star standing there still

Wel sterre, gij moet er zo stille niet staan

    Well star, you must not stand so still

Gij moet met ons naar Bethlehem gaan

    You must go with us to Bethlehem

Naar Bethlehem binnen die schone stad

    To Bethlehem within that beautiful city

Waar Maria met haar kindetje zat

    Where Mary sat with her child

Zij gaven dat kindetje menigvoud

    They gave that child many times

Van wierook en mirre en rode fijn goud

    Of frankincense and myrrh and red fine gold

Er kwamen drie koningen met ene ster

Driekoningen, Driekoningen,

    Epiphany, Epiphany,

Geef mij een nieuwe hoed!

    Give me a new hat!

Mijn oude is versleten,

    My old one is worn out,

Mijn moeder mag het niet weten!

    My mother mustn't know!

Mijn vader heeft het geld op de schoorsteen/rooster geteld!

    My father counted the money on the chimney/grate!

- OR -

Driekoningen, Driekoningen

    Epiphany, Epiphany

geef mij een nieuwe hoed, hoed, hoed.

    give me a new hat, hat, hat.

Warit m'n oude die is versleten,

    My old one is worn out,

en m'n moeder die mag het niet weten

    and my mother she mustn't know

en m'n vader die is niet thuis

    and my father he's not home

Piep zei de muis al in het zomerhuis.

    Squeak said the mouse already in the summer house.

Drie koningen, drie koningen geef mij een nieuwe hoed

Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 12 - Here Betwixt Ass and Oxen Mild

One of the oldest known French carols, Entre le bœuf et l’âne gris (Here Betwixt the Ass and Oxen Mild) dates from as early as the 13th century. A “modern” harmonized version, titled Le sommeil de l’enfant Jésus first appeared in Collection de chœurs, a 10-volume compendium of choral music composed and compiled by Belgian composer and musicologist François-Auguste Gevaert in the late 19th century. The text was eventually translated into English by Episcopal Canon Charles Winfred Douglas and appeared in the 1940 Episcopal Hymnal. The presence of the ox and ass is significant in that both were mentioned centuries before Christ’s birth in Isaiah’s prophecy: “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib.” Certainly, oxen could have been the occupants of the stable in which Mary and Joseph lodged, and the ass would have carried the pregnant mother from Nazareth to Bethlehem. (note thanks to the LA Philharmonic)

Entre le bœuf et l’âne gris,

   Here 'tween the ox and donkey grey

Dort, dort, dort le petit Fils,

    Sleep, sleep, sleep the little Son.

Mille anges divins, mille séraphins,

    Thousand divine angels, thousand seraphim,

Volent à l’entour de ce Grand Dieu d’amour.

    Flying round about this great God of love.

Entre les deux bras de Marie,

    Between the arms of dear Mary

Dort, dort, dort le Fruit de Vie,

    Sleep, sleep, sleep the fruit of life.

Mille anges divins, mille séraphins,

    Thousand divine angels, thousand seraphim,

Volent à l’entour de ce Grand Dieu d’amour.

    Flying round about this great God of love.

Entre les roses et les lys,

    Here 'neath the rose and lilies lay,

Dort, dort, dort le petit Fils,

    Sleep, sleep, sleep the little son.

Mille anges divins, mille séraphins,

    Thousand divine angels, thousand seraphim,

Volent à l’entour de ce Grand Dieu d’amour.

    Flying round about this great God of love.

Entre les pastoureaux jolis,

    Here midst the gentle shepherds lay

Dort, dort, Jésus qui sourit,

    Sleep, sleep, smile the night away.

Mille anges divins, mille séraphins,

    Thousand divine angels, thousand seraphim,

Volent à l’entour de ce Grand Dieu d’amour.

    Flying round about this great God of love.

En ce beau jour si solennel,

    Beautiful it is this solemn day,

Dort, dort, dort l’Emmanuel,

    Sleep, sleep, sleep Emmanuel.

Mille anges divins, mille séraphins,

    Thousand divine angels, thousand seraphim,

Volent à l’entour de ce Grand Dieu d’amour.

    Flying round about this great God of love.

Entre le bœuf et l’âne gris - arr. Gavaert

Here Betwixt Ass And Oxen Mild - arr. Robert Shaw / UCA Chamber Singers

Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 11 - John Rutter: Carol of the Magi (2015)

John Rutter's Carol of the Magi was commissioned in 2015 by Red Balloon, an organisation dedicated to the recovery of children who have experienced bullying, trauma, mental ill-health or have social, emotional and mental health needs. The work tells the story of the wise men’s journey to Bethlehem. It is an Epiphany carol beautifully set for solo cello, baritone voice, chorus and orchestra.

We rode all night through fields of darkness

Our guiding light, the eastern stars

We came to Bethlehem, we all were weary

We'd traveled far that night, we'd traveled far

We'd traveled far

We heard that here we'd find Messiah

Foretold by seers from days of old

We looked for palaces, we found a stable

Could it be here, so bare and cold?

So bare and cold?

We entered in and there we saw him

It seemed we'd known him from long before

A child like any child, yet somehow different

The face of every child, in him we saw

The face of every child, we saw

We brought him gifts and now we offer them

We knelt down low in silent prayer

With eyes that seem to know both joy and sadness

The child looked down as we knelt there

The child looked down as we knelt there

So long ago, yet, I remember

That child who lay at Mary's knee

How strange that every child seemed so much like him

He is the face I seem to see

He is the face I seem to see

John Rutter: Carol of the Magi (2015) - Gabriel Crouch (baritone), Tim Gill (cello), the Cambridge Singers & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 10 - Now Is Christmas Ycome

The carols of the past few days (as you may have noticed: Day 4, Peter Cornelius: The Three Kings, Day 5, Rejoice and Be Merry, Day 6, March of the Three Kings, and Day 7, Jonathan Dove: The Three Kings), have all focused on the story of the Three Kings who came to see the Christ-child. The Adoration of the Magi was one of the most popular subjects for pictorial and dramatic representation in the Middle Ages; but carols on the theme are few and far between. Today's carol on this subject, Now Is Christmas Ycome, is an ancient carol from the 15th century, and it comes down to us in a number of different versions, and under a variety of titles: Now ye Crystemas y-cum, Now Ys The Twelthe Day Cum, The III Kings, The Three Kings, I Would Now Sing For And I Might, The Golden Carol, and Now Is Christmas Ycome.

Now is Christemas ycome,

Father and Son together in one,

Holy Ghost, as ye be one,  -  in fere-a,

God send us good New Year-a!

I will you sing with I might,

Of a Child so fair in sight,

A maiden bare on Christmas night  -  so still-a,

As it was His will-a.

Three kingës came fro Galilee

To Bethlehem, that fair city,

All to offer and to see  -  by night-a,

It was a full fair sight-a.

As they came forth with their offering,

They met with Herod, that moody king,

He asked them of their coming  -  that tide-a,

And thus to them he said-a:

"From whence come ye, you kingës three?"

"Out of the east, as ye may see,

To seek Him that ever shall be  -  by right-a,

Lord and king and knight-a."

They took their leave, both eld and ying,

Of Herod, that moody king;

And forth they went with their offering  -  by light-a,

By the star that shone so bright-a.

When they came into the place,

Where Jesus with his mother was,

Offered they up with great solace  -  in fere-a,

Gold, incense, and myrrh-a.

Kneel we now here a-down,

Pray we in good devotion,

To that King of great renown,  -  for grace-a,

In heaven to have a place-a.

Now Is Christmas Ycome - Cardiff Festival Choir

Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 9 - O Jesulein süss (O Little One Sweet)

Samuel Scheidt: O Jesulein süss (1650)

J.S. Bach: O Jesulein süss (O Little One Sweet) (1736)

The text and tune for the Christmas poem O Jesulein süss (O Little One Sweet) first appeared in Friedrich Spee's hymnal Auserlesene, Catholische, Geistliche Kirchengesäng (Selected Catholic Spiritual Church-Songs), published in Cologne in 1623. The words are attributed to Valentin Thilo (1607-1662). In 1650, German composer Samuel Scheidt composed a musical setting of the hymn, and nearly a century later, in 1736, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a harmonization of the melody as a sacred song for solo voice and accompaniment. Long beloved as a German Christmas carol, O Jesulein süss began appearing in English translation in the early 20th century. Perhaps the best-known of these translations was made by the Anglican priest and liturgist Percy Dearmer, who arranged Bach’s solo song harmonization for four-part chorus and published it as O Little One Sweet in 1928.

O Jesulein süß, o Jesulein mild!

    O little one sweet, O little one mild,

Deins Vaters Willn hast du erfüllt;

    Thy Father's purpose thou hast fulfilled;

Bist kommen aus dem Himmelreich,

    Thou camest from heaven to mortal ken,

Uns armen Menschen worden gleich,

    Equal to be with us poor men,

O Jesulein süß, o Jesulein mild!

    O little one sweet, O little one mild.

O Jesulein süß, o Jesulein mild!

    O little one sweet, O little one mild,

Mit Freuden hast du die Welt erfüllt,

    With joy thou hast the whole world filled;

Du kommst herab vom Himmelssaal,

    Thou camest here from heaven's domain,

Und tröst’st uns in dem Jammertal,

    To bring men comfort in their pain,

O Jesulein süß, o Jesulein mild!

    O little one sweet, O little one mild.

O Jesulein süß, o Jesulein mild!

    O little one sweet, O little one mild,

Du bist der Lieb ein Ebenbild,

    In thee Love's beauties are all distilled;

Zünd an in uns der Liebe Flamm,

    Then light in us thy love's bright flame,

Dass wir dich lieben all zusamm’,

    That we may give thee back the same,

O Jesulein süß, o Jesulein mild!

    O little one sweet, O little one mild.

O Jesulein süss - Stephen Mann, treble recorder

Samuel Scheidt: O Jesulein süss (1650) - Bach Ensemble Amsterdam

J.S. Bach: O Little One Sweet (1736) - arr. Dearmer / The King's Singers