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
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