Evening star., 1935-12-22
STORY OF CAROLS
Music of Christmas Began With Song of
Angels Heralding Christ -Child's Birth
in Bethlehem Manger.

gracel o, Thou blessed Virgins Son.
be Thy race on earth begun"
Then followed hymns from the pen
of Spanish, Greek and other poets
during the seventh and eighth CEN
turies.
To make Christmas more real and
re-establish the faith IN the incarna-
ton, priests became leaders in the
dramatic world and established man
ger scenes in their churches, around
which the people would gather and
sing. These scenes advanced until
they started to act out many stories
of the Bible. These were called
mystery" or miracle" plays. Then
Latin Christmas hymns were adapted
to secular dance tunes and the folk
danced and sang around the tableaux
These plays were. no doubt, the
foundation Of our modern drama and
the added singing paved the way for
the opera. St. Francis of Assist is
given credit for putting a figure in
a crib to represent the Babe Of Beth
lehem in his endeavor TO make the
story more real.
THESE scenes in time became gro
tesoue and extravagant exhibi-
tions in the churches and many Of the
songs and carols" composed at this
time show the combination Of the
sublime and the ridiculous.
The Roman Church placed ban
on singing in the churches by the
laity in the Middle Ages because Of
too much gayety Of the secular type.
So little or no church hymns were
written. This rule gave new standing
TO the folk melodies Of the people.
These were used with words that came
from the hearts Of the people and
we're known as "carols."
The carol came prominently into
being at a time when Latin was ceas-
ing TO be language Of the people.
One finds that during this transition.
about the twelfth to fourteenth CEN
tury, many hymns were a blending
of the Latin and the vernacular. This
type is called the "nlacaronic hymn"
One such famous hymn found in the
book of Theodoricus Petrus is "Pru-
dentius Corde Natus ex PARENTS"
Another thirteenth century carol is
Dies Est Laetitiae." translated into
English by DR.. Neale's Royal Day
That Chasest Gloom" A splendid
German original Of the fourteenth
century is:
In dulci jublio
Nun singet und seid froh,
Unsers Hertzens, Wonne
Liegt in proesepic
Und leuchtet ais die Some,
Matris in gremio.
Alpha es ct or
At the time of the Reformation
Martin Luther translated many good
old Latin hymns into the German
language. From the fifteenth century
comes a gem of clear beauty which
no doubt was originally Latin hymn.
However, the German is so lovely it
seems like an original" 1t reads:
"Es ist EN- Ros' entsprungen
Aus elmer Wurzel zart,
| Ais uns die Atten sungen;
Aus Jesse kan die Art;
Und hat Elm Blumlein bracflt,
Mitten i'm kalten Winter,
| Wohl zu der halben nacht."
| The melody is a traditional Rhenish
folksong. This English translation OF
first to fourth verses is by Harriet R.
Krauth in 1875. The fifth verse by
John Caspar Mates in 1914.
T UTHER himself was splendid
- musician and foStered music and
singing. One of the best types Of
carols is the lullaby" or cradle song"
! Luther's "vom Hunlmel Hoch Da
Komm Ich Her" is an outstanding
example. In this group of lullaby
carols the best are those originally
written in German, owing to the Won
derful wealth of diminutives In that
language.
There is a real human interest story
attached to this fine and rhythmic
carol. It shows the sentimental and
tender side Of this strong-charactered
man.
1t was Christmas eve in 1884 and
Luther was engaged in study and pre-.
pairing his sermon for the following
day. His good wife Catharine, too,
| was busy with the many duties Of
mother in preparation for the holiday.
She did something many good wives
do. She knocked at the doctors study
door and asked him if he would mind
rocking the cradle of baby Paul. so
she could get her work finished. Luther
obediently took his Bible and sat down
by the cradle and proceeded to rock
the babe. Paul soon fell asleep and
as Luther looked at the sleeping in
| FAINT bis thoughts went back to an.
other Christmas eve and Baby laid
in a manger. The rocking of the
cradle gave a rhythm to his thoughts.
So inspired, he wrote out the words.
He used the words with an old folk
song which has a good rhythm to ac-
company them. At Christmas his
family sang the carol while he played
on his lutte.
About this time we find that many Of
the beautiful old carols lost their
identity by having secular, political
or national words fitted to the music,
| Just as the need Of good swinging
melody arose. Also church hymns
were in need of this source Of music.
So the carol words were dropped and
the music adapted TO other words.
One familiar old carol that has al
ways seemingly been part of Christmas