It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

"It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" is a poem and Christmas carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Weston, Massachusetts. [http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/s/e/sears_eh.htm] It first appeared on December 29, 1849 in the "Christian Register" in Boston. [http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/t/itcameup.htm It Came upon the Midnight Clear ] ]

Sears is said to have written these words at the request of his friend, W. P. Lunt, a minister in Quincy, Massachusetts. In 1850 Richard Storrs Willis, a composer who trained under Felix Mendelssohn, wrote the melody called "Carol". "Carol" is the most widely-known tune to the song in the USAThe United Methodist Hymnal, © 1989] Lutheran Book of Worship, © 1978] The official Unitarian-Universalist hymnal, "Singing the Living Tradition", © 1993] . In the UK the tune called "Noel", which was adapted from an English melody in 1874 by Arthur Sullivan, is the usual accompaniment.

In 1981, Swedish dansband singer Stefan Borsch covered the song in Swedish, as "Jag ser en stjärna på himmelen" ("I see a star in the sky").

In 2003, a recording of the song by Sixpence None the Richer was released on the Christmas-compilation "Maybe This Christmas Too?" (label: Nettwerk America) [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000AM6O3/ "www.amazon.com/Maybe-This-Christmas-Various-Artists"] ]

In 2006, a recording of the song by Daryl Hall & John Oates hit number one on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/chart_beat/bonus_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003524535 "Fred Bronson, Chart Beat, December 21, 2006"] , billboard.com]

Lyrics

While different sources provide slightly different wordings/phrasings, and some omit the third stanza altogether, the original and most widely-known words are:

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,
From heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel- have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

For , the days are on,
By prophet seen of old,
When with the ever-encircling years
Shall come the time foretold
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Variation in Carol

In "Carol", the more widely-known tune in the USA associated with this poem, a variation in the music has appeared during the course of the 20th century. The third soprano (melody) note in the song, which is played to the first syllable of the word "upon" in the first verse, was originally the same as the fourth note (which is played to the second syllable of the word "upon" in the first verse) -- the note C in the original key of B-flat major. Following an influential Episcopal hymnal, where the variation first occurred, the note is now written one-third below (the note A, again in the original key of B-flat major), which mimics the second and fourth phrase of the song; though it is correct for the second and fourth phrases, the first phrase was originally different in that way. (However, it should be noted that it there are some notable recordings featuring the original version of the measure, and now both versions are generally accepted as "correct").

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/62/It_Came_upon_the_Midnight_Clear.mid Listen] - this MIDI sound file consists of the first half of the first phrase of the song played twice; the first time demonstrates the variation, the second time demonstrates the original version.

Shown:

Media

multi-listen item|filename=Midnight clear.ogg|title=It Came upon the Midnight Clear|description=Instrumental of the tune "Carol" - Piano, Violin, and English Horn; variation in first phrase present (see above)|format=Ogg

Cover Versions

* 1958 - Mitch Miller
* 1962 - Leontyne Price with Herbert von Karajan - "A Christmas Offering" (using the Willis tune)
* 1982 - Julie Andrews - "Christmas with Julie Andrews" (using the Willis tune. Note: on her 1967 Christmas album "A Christmas Treasury" she used the Sullivan tune.)
* 1989 - The King's Singers - "A Little Christmas Music" (using the Willis tune)
* 1991 - Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King's College, Cambridge - "Carols from King's" (using the Sullivan tune)
* 1997 - Jon Schmidt - "Jon Schmidt Christmas"
* 1998 - David Hill and the Choir of Winchester Cathedral - "O Come Let Us Adore Him" (using the Sullivan tune with descant for verse 4 by Sir David Willcocks)

References