Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-17
DYkEMA TELLS HOW
CHRISTMAS CAROLS
HAD THEIR ORIGIN
Six of Songs to be Sung in
Great Falls During Holt
days Explained

The children of the public schools of
Great Falls are learning Christmas
Carols to sing during the holiday sea
sing them in various parts of the city
on Christmas eve Peter William
Dykema, professor of music IN the
University Of Wisconsin. who visited
Great Falls during the State Teachers
convention in 1921. has written the
stories of six of the 10 Christmas
Carols which the Great Falls children
arc learning. The stories follow:
Silent Night"
Probably no carol is SO universally
known. loved and sung as this sim
German II For years its origin
was unknown, but supposed TO date
back centuries. A few years ago Lud-
wig Erik investigated and found that
it was produced in 1918. The poem
was written by Joseph Mohr, at the
time assistant priest in Oberndorf i'll
South Germany; the melody was com
posed by Franz Gruber, Il school mas
ter. On Christmas eve of that year
it was sung in the church at Obern-
dorf. The poet, who had a tenor
voice. sang the melody, the composer.
Il bass, sang q second part, and n has
tiiy recruited choir of young women
the refrain, A guitar furnished the
accompaniment, the organ being out OF
order. Twenty years or SO later a fam
lily of strolling singers from the Tyrol
added it to their repertoire, and in
1910 it was printed in Leipsic, as a
genuine Tyrolean' song. For many
years land still in certain song books
the composer of the song was given
as Joseph Haydn. probably meaning
tile great Franz Joseph Haydn.
4 touching description Of the effect
Of his song is given in IONA Gales
sheet story "A Great Tree" Certain
~ tothing can more quickly give the
spiritual atmosphere of the manger
birth than the singing of this beauti-
full simple song.
at Came Upon the Midnight Clear"
Year after year as the quiet clear
nights of the Christmas season APP
Droach, the spirits of thousands who
have a touch Of poetry or Imagination
ia them are stirred at the contempla-
ton of the New Testament story OF
fhe birth of Jesus. What countless
poems have been produced BY writer's,
great and small. One of the finest
expressions is by an American. Ed
mund II. Sears, a Unitarian minister
and a poet, who lived in Massachu-
sets from 1910 to 1876.
In December, 1859, he published in
Il religious journal the poem begin
ming 1T Came Upon the Midnight
Clear" He sent it to a brother
clergyman who fitted it to an old
hymn tune. to which it is still often
sung at Wellesley college. The next
year, however, al American composer,
Richard S. Willis, who had been struck
with the unusual beauty of the poem,
wrote an original setting for it. This
met with such favor that it is practl-l
callv the only one now in general use.
1t. moreover, has because of its
Christmas spirit appropriately been
given the hymn-tune name "Carol."t
1t is singularly effective in rendering
with tho same music for all the stan
xas the four varying moods-the first
two depicting the angels lowering over
the earth and singing their joyous
song, the third bringing words of com
fort to the weary, the fourth pro-
phesying the happy days when all the
world shall join in the angels song.
Deck the Hair'
Many nations have Christmas songs.
but the gay carol is found principally |
in the British isles. Before these is
land people were Christianized they
had a mid-winter festival called Yule
which was a season of merrymaking.
Songs were used which not only called
forth iusty rollicking singing but also
stimulated dancing and frolicking. /
When Christianity was established i'll
England. the missionaries instead of
attempting to suppress the carols,
which were the popular music Of the
day, encouraged their use with the
new religious Interpretation Of Christ
mas. Frequently the texts were slight
" changed or even entirely rewrti-
len in order to present the Christian
idea, but occasionally, on the theory
that "a principal point of charity, it
is to be merry" the old pagan songs
were preserved in their original
forms.
Deck the Tall' is one of this type,
It comes from Wales that land of
hearty singing. 1t wildly pictures the
household preparation for the joyful
feast. The famous Christmas pud-
dings miagie their odors with those Of
the fresh epergreens of holly and mis-
tletoe which hang in garlands to deck
the hall The kitchen and hall ring
with the sound of happy voices. At
midnight of Christmas eve, the Iule
log, decorated with all kinds Of de-
vices and garnished with evergreens is
brought in with a procession Of lights,
banrers. and songs and placed in the
middle Of the room. Each one present
was expected TO sit on it and sing n
Yule song. Certainly n that they