Comments on: Another wonderful recording of “O Holy Night”

By: Caped Crusader

Caped Crusader — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 05:40:49 +0000

For Sure!!!

By: Earl

Earl — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 05:36:17 +0000

My grandmother LOVED Tennessee Ernie Ford, so we watched his show whenever I was up at her house on the right night (which I forget). It was great – a variety show with emphasis on music, and Ernie always sang with his guests, and there were also soloes. I’ve loved him ever since.

At the end, he closed with (something like)….”Good Night, and if the Lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise, we’ll see y’all back here next week…..and Bless your little pea-pickin’ hearts!”

Anybody else remember that?

By: Ellen

Ellen — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:27:43 +0000

I have lots of Christmas favorites, but I have heard O Holy Night butchered so often that I’ve grown to dislike it. I rather like Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence and Creator of the Stars of Night. Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols is lovely.

By: Caped Crusader

Caped Crusader — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:16:43 +0000

Gesu Bambino one of my favorites; 3 versions and lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhNahhK1I20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naY5GgnF-q0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nChsp_KuCZQ

When blossoms flower e’er ‘mid the snows,
Upon a winter night,
Was born the child, the Christmas rose,
The king of love and light.
The angels sang, the shepherds sang,
The grateful earth rejoiced;
And at his blessed birth the stars
Their exultation voiced.

O come let us adore him
O come let us adore him
O come let us adore him
Christ the lord.

Again the heart with rapture glows
To greet the holy night,
That gave the world it’s Christmas rose,
Its king of love and light
Let ev’ry voice acclaim his name,
The grateful chorus swell
From paradise to earth he came
That we with him might dwell.

Chorus

By: David Foster

David Foster — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:51:38 +0000

Good catch…1906!

By: Caped Crusader

Caped Crusader — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:19:23 +0000

David Foster An interesting historical fact…maybe…about this carol. I posted the following story several years ago: On Christmas eve 2006, a few shipboard radio operators–listening through the static for signals in Morse code–heard something that they had never before heard on the radio, and that most had never expected to hear. A human voice. ?????? Morse code in 2006 and Fessenden's death in 1932????--truly a Christmas miracle !!!!!

By: Danny Lemieux

Danny Lemieux — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 05:35:40 +0000

Whoops! I meant “with his grown-up self”.

By: Danny Lemieux

Danny Lemieux — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:47:06 +0000

Here is another favorite: how many remember “walking in the air”? Here is Welsh treble Aled Jones singing a duet with his younger self, the one that made this song famous. This song has alway been so uplifting to me.

By: Danny Lemieux

Danny Lemieux — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:23:06 +0000

That is what I like about this hymn so much, Nancy. It seems perfect for those crisp, clear midwinter days when we enter into quiet contemplation even as we begin to yearn for the first signs of renewal. Our church always plays this hymn in frosty, frozen January on the Epiphany. It is very contemplative. Thank you for your comments.

Here is “O Holy Night”, sung by the Kings College (Cambridge) Boy’s Choir:

By: NancyB

NancyB — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:00:59 +0000

To Danny:

That was beautiful – the music and the videography. The music has a quiet quality – like that of being in the woods during winter when all is muted by snowfall and the outside world has receded.