Saturday, December 19, 2020

The Twelve Days (Before) Christmas

Day 6 - Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (literally "It is a rose sprung up"), is a Christmas carol and Marian Hymn of German origin. It is most commonly translated in English as Lo, how a rose e'er blooming. The rose in the text is a symbolic reference to the Virgin Mary. The hymn has its roots in an unknown author before the 17th century, and first appeared in print in 1599. It has since been published with a varying number of verses and in several English translations. The text is most commonly sung to a melody harmonized by the German composer Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), who helped to popularize the tune immensely by publishing it in his collection Musae Sioniae (Zion’s Music) in 1609.

Lo, how a rose e’er bloom­ing
From ten­der stem hath sprung!
Of Jes­se’s lin­eage com­ing,
As men of old have sung.
It came, a flow­er­et bright,
Amid the cold of win­ter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas fore­told it,
The rose I have in mind;
With Ma­ry we be­hold it,
The vir­gin mo­ther kind.
To show God’s love aright,
She bore to men a Sav­ior,
When half spent was the night.

The shep­herds heard the sto­ry
Proclaimed by an­gels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glo­ry
Was born on earth this night.
To Beth­le­hem they sped
And in the man­ger found Him,
As an­gel her­alds said.

This flow­er, whose frag­rance ten­der
With sweet­ness fills the air,
Dispels with glo­ri­ous splen­dor
The dark­ness ev­ery­where;
True man, yet ve­ry God,
From sin and death He saves us,
And share our ev­ery load.

O Sav­ior, child of Ma­ry,
Who felt our hu­man woe,
O Sav­ior, King of glo­ry,
Who dost our weak­ness know;
Bring us at length we pray,
To the bright courts of Heav­en,
And to the end­less day!

. . . very hard to choose between all the great performances available! 

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming - Michael Praetorius arrangement, performed by Chanticleer

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming - Sting

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming - The Peterhouse Choir (arr. by Whitbourn to the text "A great and mighty wonder")

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming - performed by Linda

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming - arranged and sung by Alex Stephens

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming - Pierre Astor (organ)

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming - The Mirandola Ensemble (arr. by Andrew Kane)

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming - arranged and performed by The Mcmakens

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming - VOCES8


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