Twelve Days (Before) Christmas

Day 11 - Die Hirten auf dem Felde (The Shepherds in the Field; English version: As Lately We Watched)

Today's carol was a bit of a challenge for me. I had found the text and music last year and squirreled it away for future use. The version I had found came from a 1964 hymnal, with the title As Lately We Watched, and it listed the text as "Anonymous" and the tune as an "Austrian Carol." So far, so good.

As I searched for information on the carol, though, I got more and more confused. When a website listed the carol, the most that was given was that it was a "19th century Austrian carol." My go-to resource for information on Christmas carols - Hymns and Carols of Christmas.com - said: "from Austria comes this traditional carol, sung to a tune similar to the old English We Wish You a Merry Christmas." And this information appears to come from The Reader's Digest Merry Christmas Songbook (1981; rev. 2003).

OK. So if it was a traditional Austrian carol, there should be a number of performances on YouTube. Plenty of performances in English, but most of them were the contemporary, "island flavored" version by Kirby Shaw.

I tried a different tack. I searched using the German title of the carol. There was ONE recorded version! Yikes - not what you would expect for a typical "traditional" carol. And the vocalist sang words close to the German text I found on many websites, but she constantly sang something that didn't quite match up with the "traditional" version. On top of that, there were a number of other performances of Die Hirten auf dem Felde, but not with the tune that I had in my possession.

I then realized that I had seen somewhere a listing of Die Hirten auf dem Felde which referred also to Auf, auf, ihr Hirten. I tried searching THAT German title. More YouTube performances, but most - I didn't check them all! - with a different tune than what I had. And the German Wikipedia page for Auf, auf, ihr Hirten presented music that was definitely not the music that I had.

Well, how about doing a German language search using "Österreichisches Weihnachtslied" (Austrian Christmas Carol)? I came across some modern carol collections that contained the song, but I was starting to think that maybe this was NOT a traditional carol, and that, perhaps, one listing on the internet had spawned all these references to a "traditional 19th century Austrian carol." Who knew?! Now fake news regarding Christmas!!!

Fear not . . .

At last I came across a reference to a collection called Deutscher Liederhort (literally: German Song Horde). After a bit more digging, I found an online version of this three volume compilation of German/Austrian folk songs, published between 1892-94. And finally, in volume 3, there, at tune No. 1944 was the music and the text to Die Hirten auf dem Felde! But that was not the end of it. There was a reference to the collection Oesterreichische Volkslieder mit ihren Singeweisen (Austrian folk songs and their tunes), published in 1819 by Franz Ziska and Julius Max Schottky. That was ALSO online (a big thank you to Google for their efforts to scan important old books and making them available online!), and there, on page 44 was the source, as collected by Ziska and Schottky, of Die Hirten auf dem Felde with the first line of text: Auf, auf, ihr Hirten!

The text itself must be in a "Lower Austrian" (Tyrolian?) dialect, because even with my limited knowledge of German I can see that there are words used that are not in the vocabulary of contemporary German. Here's the first verse in the original and then the updated version:

Af, af, ehs Hiärtn, nid schlafts ma so lang!
De Nacht is vaganga, nu dagt es ja schon.
Schauts nuär dahear!
Schauts nuär dahear!
Wie sairizt das Stearndl je lenga je mear.

(Auf, auf, ihr Hirten, nicht schlaft mir so lang
die Nacht ist vergangen, nun saget es schon.
Schaut's nur daher, schaut's nur daher
wie glänzet das Sternlein je länger je mehr.

Up, up, you shepherds, don't sleep so long
the night has passed, now say it soon.
Just look at it, just look at it
how that little star shines so long and so bright.)

Here's the first verse of the version sung on the one performance I found online:

Auf, auf, ihr Hirten, schlaft nur nicht so lang
die Nacht ist vergangen, dru zeitlich mir bang
Schaut's nur daher
Schaut's nur daher
wie glänzet das Sternlein und leuchtet so zier.

Up, up, you shepherds, just don't sleep so late
the night has passed, I'm afraid of the time
Just look at it
Just look at it
how the little star shines and does so gracefully.

Die Hirten auf dem Felde/The Shepherds in the Field

And to make things simple, an instrumental version with Aruna Bhasker (harp)

 

And now . . . the English version:

As lately we watch'd o'er our fields through the nigh,
A star there was seen of such glorious light.
All through the night, angels did sing,
Carols so sweet of the birth of our King.

A king of such beauty was ne'er before seen,
And Mary his mother was so like a queen.
Blessed be the hour, welcome the morn,
For Christ our dear Savior on earth now is born.

His throne is a manger, his court is a loft,
But troops of bright angels, in lays sweet and soft,
Him they proclaim, our Christ by name,
And earth, sky and air straight are filled with his fame.

Then shepherds, be joyful; salute your new King,
Let hills and vales ring to the song that ye sing.
Blessed be the hour, welcome the morn,
For Christ our dear Savior on earth now is born.

As Lately We Watched - The Oakwood Waits

and one of the "island flavored" versions, with the Spectrum Choral Academy