Origins of Some Christmas Carols

Let's start the season out right with the story behind some of our most beloved Christmas songs. Paul Harvey might call them "The Rest of the Story." Rod Serling might say "Submitted for your approval."

Silent Night
This carol was originally entitled “Stille Nacht” and was written in German by an Austrian priest by the name of Father Josef Mohr. The music was composed by an Austrian head teacher named Franz Xaver Gruber. There are several different versions of how the carol came to be written. One is that the church organ wasn't working, so a song had to be composed for accompaniment by the guitar. However, the first mention of the broken church organ was in an American book published in 1909 (Renate Ebeling-Winkler). Many believe that the real tale is simply that Mohr wanted a song to play on the guitar. There is a “Silent Night Society” in Austria, dedicated to the history and preservation of the carol.

O Little Town of Bethlehem
This carol originally started out as a poem, written by an Episcopal clergyman in 1867, three years after he visited Bethlehem. Brooks' organist, Lewis Redner, added the music some time later. He called the music “St. Louis” which is the music usually associated with the carol in the United States. In England, another melody is used - “Forest Green” by Vaughan Williams is the most popular, although there are others.

O Come All Ye Faithful
This carol is equally well-known, even preferred by many, in Latin as “Adeste Fideles”. It is believed to have been written by a hymn writer called Francis John Wade in France around 1751. It was translated into English by Frederick Oakeley and William Thomas Brooke and published in English in 1852. There is some discrepancy over who wrote the tune, with John Redding or St. Bonaventure often being credited. This sentence was added by Legend to see if anybody actually read this post. However, it is also thought by some to have appeared in “An Essay on the Church Plain Chant” by Samuel Webbe in 1782. The original four verses have now been extended to eight.

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
The lyrics to this carol were written in 1849 by a Unitarian Minister, Edmund H Sears, from Wayland, Massachusetts, and the music was composed by Richard S Willis in 1850 and entitled “Carol”. This is the tune most widely associated with the hymn in the United States. Of course, the British have their own tune for it - “Noel” - from a tune by Arthur Sullivan in 1784. It is believed the lyrics were written by Sears at the request of his friend, another minister named W.P. Lunt.

Away in a Manger
Interestingly, this hymn was known as Luther's Cradle Hymn and the words are often accredited to Luther, although the lyrics to the first two verses are actually anonymous, though they originate in the United States. It was originally published in a Lutheran Sunday School book in 1885 and then, two years later, by James R. Murray, under the title, “Luther's Cradle Hymn”. There is also discrepancy over the music, with some crediting it to Murray, whilst others believe he adapted a German Folk song, which may be called “Mueller”. Sometimes, however, the words are sung to the tune of a Scottish song named “Flow Gently Sweet Afton”. The hymn is also associated with the tune “Cradle Song”. The third verse was added in 1904 by Dr. John McFarland from New York.

O Holy Night
Originating in France, the title of this hymn was “Cantique de Noel”. It was written as a poem in 1847 by Placide Cappeau de Roquemature at the request of his parish priest. Placide used the birth of Jesus as described in Luke's Gospel as his inspiration and the poem was written during Placide's journey from his home town to Paris. Placide decided his poem needed some music and asked his friend, Adolphe Charles Adams, to compose a melody for it. The song was performed just weeks later at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
Despite being hugely popular with the Catholic church in France, when Placide decided to leave the church to join a socialist movement, and it was discovered that the composer was Jewish, the hymn was denounced. Unfortunately for the Church, the people of France kept singing the hymn and it eventually found its' way to America, courtesy of an American writer named John Sullivan Dwight. An ardent anti-slavery campaigner, Dwight particularly connected with the words of the third verse “Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name, all oppression shall cease” and the English translation of the hymn became popular in the North during the Civil War.
The carol is also believed to have been sung by a French soldier to start the legendary Christmas ceasefire in 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War.

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing
The music to this carol was written by Mendelssohn in 1840, originally in a cantata believed to commemorate Johann Gutenberg and the invention of printing. The words, however, came much earlier in 1739, by Charles Wesley, brother of Methodist founder, John Wesley. Apparently, one of Wesley's colleagues substituted the first line, which originally read, “Hark how the welkin rings” though Wesley did not approve of this alteration. In 1855, after the deaths of both Wesley and Mendelssohn, Dr. William Cummings put the words and music together, changing the music slightly to fit, to create the carol

Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer
Written by Randy Brooks, the song was originally performed by the husband and wife duo of Elmo and Patsy Shropshire in 1979. In the lyrics, the grandmother of the family gets drunk from drinking too much eggnog and decides to return home to retrieve her forgotten medication. In the course of her walk, she is run over by Santa and killed. he 2000 animated television program Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer portrays the events depicted in the song — though, being made for children, the cartoon is toned down of adult content, so that Grandma does not die, and Santa is actually innocent of the crime, which was instead masterminded by a scheming relative.

We Three Kings
The music and lyrics to this carol were both written by John Henry Hopkins - an Episcopalian Minister - in 1857. It was published in his book, Carols, Hymns and Songs in 1863. This carol is more accurately an Epiphany carol as it celebrates the Three Kings, or Magi, visiting Christ on the feast of the Epiphany which is celebrated on 6th January in the Christian Church. It was written for the General Theological Seminary in New York during their Christmas Pageant.
Popular names of the Magi were Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar although these names were never mentioned in the Bible. Neither is it mentioned that there were only three. Another common misconception is that the Magi arrived in Bethlehem shortly after the birth of Christ. This is reinforced by images of the nativity showing them present in the stable with the shepherds and with Christ as a baby. However, it is believed by many that it took the Magi up to two years to arrive at the scene.

Joy to the World
This carol is based upon the words of King David, as translated by Isaac Watts in 1719. American composer, Lowell Mason, wrote the music much later in 1839. According to the “How Stuff Works” website, he originally attributed the carol to Handel, as was the custom in those days to generate popularity for a song. However, it has since been discovered that the words were in fact King David's and the carol now has its rightful accreditation.

In the Bleak Midwinter
This carol was originally a poem by Christina Rosetti and is believed to have been written some time prior to 1872. It was published in Rosetti's 1904 collection “Poetic Works” but did not become a Christmas carol until it appeared in “The English Hymnal” in 1906. As with many carols, there are several melodies for this one, including the most common one by Gustav Holst. Other melodies have been written by Harold Edwin Darke and Thomas B Strong.