Twelve Days (Before) Christmas

Day 2 - Royal Day That Chasest Gloom

As we get nearer to Christmas Day, we'll turn to a carol whose German lyrics date back over 700 years! According to John Mason Neale, the famous 19th century English Anglican priest, scholar, and hymnwriter, the church hymn Dies est lætitiæ (It is a day of joy) dates from "the 13th or 14th century. A  great favourite all over Europe, [and] Germany and Holland had ancient translations. It is perhaps scarcely worth mentioning that Luther believed it inspired." An English translation, Royal Day That Chasest Gloom, made by Neale, appeared in Carols for Christmas-tide (1853). In that same collection Thomas Helmore set the text to music, using a melody from the famous 1582 music collection Piae Cantiones, with additional melodic material from Koler's Ruefbuechl (1601), with a harmonization by the Rev. G. R. Woodward.

Royal Day that chasest gloom,

    Day by gladness speeded:

Thou beheld'st from Mary's womb

    How the King proceeded:

Very God, Who made the sky,

Set the sun and stars on high,

    Heav'n and earth sustaining:

Very man, Who freely bare,

Toil and sorrow, woe and care,

    Man's salvation gaining.

As the sun-beam through the glass

    Passeth, but not staineth;

Thus the Virgin, as she was,

    Virgin still remaineth;

Blessed Mother! in whose womb

Lay the Light that exiles gloom,

    God to earth descending:

Blessed Main! whose spotless breast

Gives the King of Glory rest,

    Nurture, warmth, and tending.

Christ, Who mad'st us out of dust,

    Breath and spirit giving:

Christ, from Whose dear steps we must

    Pattern take of living:

Christ, Who camest once to save

From the curse and from the grave,

    Healing, light'ning, cheering:

Christ, Who now wast made as we,

Grand that we may be like Thee

    In Thy next appearing.

And it is here that we've run into a unique problem, the first time in four years . . . there is no good choice of YouTube videos to present this day's carol! We'll have to go with a couple of instrumental versions, and a performance of the original latin text with music that closely resembles Neale & Helmore's 19th century carol, by the Hungarian early music group Juvenalis.

Royal Day That Chasest Gloom - Luke Wahl (piano)

Royal Day that Chasest Gloom - presented on the website HymnTime (you'll have to hit the play button on the embedded audio player)

Dies est laetitiae - Juvenalis