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Christmas Carols

Music early became a marked feature of the Christmas season. But the first chants, litanies, and hymns were in Latin and too theological for popular use. Christmas carols written in the vernacular originated in Italy during the 13th century under the influence of St. Francis of Assisi who wrote a Christmas hymn in Latin—Psalmus in Nativitate—but there is no evidence that he specifically composed carols in Italian. His companions and spiritual sons, the first Franciscan friars, however, contributed a large number of Italian Christmas carols. Here is the English translation of one of these thirteenth-century Italian carols. The tune has become very familiar as the theme on which Handel developed his Pastoral Symphony in the Messiah:

In Bethlehem is born the Holy Child,
On hay and straw in the winter wild;
O, my heart is full of mirth
At Jesus' birth.

From Italy, the Christmas carols passed to France and Germany, and later to England, everywhere retaining its simplicity, fervor, and mirthfulness. Music in itself has become one of the greatest tributes to Christmas, and includes some of the noblest compositions of the great musicians.

Popular Italian Christmas carols (canzoni di Natale) include: Gesù Bambino 'l è nato ("Baby Jesus Is Born"), Tu scendi dalle stelle ("You Came Down From the Stars") and Mille cherubini in coro ("A Thousand-Cherub Chorus"). Dormi, formi, o bel bambin is a popular Italian Christmas carol in which we find a mother asking her son to sleep. The child is weeping and the mother tries to convince him and make him sleep.

La canzone di zampagnone (Carol of the bagpipers) is a traditional Sicilian carol that narrates a small but significant portion of Christmas. It says the day when Jesus was born in Bethlehem it was a similar time of night but a star shone brightly as noon. Never ever did a star shone so brightly. The star played its part and went to call the three wise men from Orient.

The carols reflect the spirit and light of Christmas.

Gesu' bambino
MIDI, John Tesh (istrumental, playing), Luciano Pavarotti, Stephen C. Anderson (fragment) & Score

Pietro Allensandro Yon (written before 1917, © 1923)
English text by Frederick H. Martens

Nell'umile capanna
nel freddo e povertá
é nato il Santo pargolo
che il mondo adorerá

Osannna, osanna cantano
con giubilante cuor
i tuoi pastore ed angeli
o re di luce e amor

venite adoremus,
venite adoremus
venite adoremus
Dominum

O bel bambin non piangere,
non piangere, Redentor !
la mamma tua cullandotti
ti bacia, O Salvator.

Osannna, osanna cantano
con giubilante cuor
i tuoi pastore ed angeli
o re di luce e amor

venite adoremus,
venite adoremus
venite adoremus
Dominum

When blossoms flowered 'mid the snows
Upon a winter night
Was born the Child, the Christmas Rose,
The King of Love and Light.

The angels sang, the shephers 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 its 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.

O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

Tu scendi dalla stelle
Score; Renata Tebaldi; instrumental; and choral

This is translated from a poem, "Tu scendi dalle Stelle," by Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) and set to a melody by Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787). The melody is closely related to the Neapolitan "Carol of the Bagpipers." Translated as "From Starry Skies Descending";

Tu scendi dalle stelle
O Re del Cielo
E vieni in una grotta
Al freddo al gelo.

O Bambino mio Divino
Io ti vedo qui a tremar,
O Dio Beato
Ah, quanti ti costo
L'avermi amato.

A te che sei del mondo,
Il creatore
Mancano panni e fuoco,
O mio Signore.

Caro eletto, Pargoletto,
Quanto questa poverta',
Piu m'innamora
Giacche ti fece
Amor povero ancora.

Tu lasci del tuo Padre
Il divin seno,
Per venire a tremar
Su questo fieno;
Per venire a tremar
Su questo fieno.

Caro eletto del mio petto,
Dove amor ti trasportò!
O Gesù mio,
Perchè tanto patir,
Per amor mio...

From starry skies descending,
Thou comest, glorious King,
A manger low Thy bed,
In winter's icy sting;

O my dearest Child most holy,
Shudd'ring, trembling in the cold!
Great God, Thou lovest me!
What suff'ring Thou didst bear,
That I near Thee might be!

Thou art the world's Creator,
God's own and true Word,
Yet here no robe, no fire
For Thee, Divine Lord.

Dearest, fairest, sweetest Infant,
Dire this state of poverty.
The more I care for Thee,
Since Thou, o Love Divine,
Will'st now so poor to be.

[the last two stanzas are not translated]

Raccolta Secco per riproposta Coro Oio canti natalizi in provincia di Belluno, Rocca Pietore - Laste - Alto Agordino (Belluno BL) , Veneto , Italia. Tratto da: CD - "Oratorium de Nadal"

Venite, adoriamo il nato Bambino
(versione canonica)
MP3

Venite, adoriamo
il nato Bambino,
il Figlio divino
per noi s'incarnò.
Sorgete, pastori,
che al pari del giorno
coi raggi d'intorno
la notte spuntò.

Venite, adoriamo
il nato Bambino,
il Figlio divino
per noi s'incarnò.
O candida notte,
che i giorni fai lieti,
già pria dai profeti
di Te si parlò.

O notte in cui nacque
il Verbo del Padre
che Vergine Madre
in seno portò.
Venite, adoriamo
il nato Bambino,
il Figlio divino
per noi s'incarnò.

Mio Bene infinito,
il grande (tuo) amore
per me peccatore
così t'abbassò.
Prostrato ai Tuoi piedi
Ti adoro, o Signore,
E questo mio core
in dono Ti dò.

Venite, adoriamo
il nato Bambino,
il Figlio divino
per noi s'incarnò.

Source

Božićna pjesma

U sej vrijeme godišta
Mir se svijetu maviješta:
Porodjenje D|etića
Od Djevice Marije.

Od prečiste Djevice
I nebeske kraljice
Andjelske cesarice
Svete D|eve Marije.

Djeva Sina porodi
Djavlu silu svu slomi,
A kršćane oslobodi.
Sveta Djeva Marija.

U jasle ga stavljaše,
Majka mu se klanjaie.
Ter ga slatko ljubljaše,
Sveta Djeva Marija.

[to be continued]

Tiha noć (Silent Night)

Tiha noć, sveta noć, spava sve sanak blag,
samo Josip i Marija bdiju dokle sinak drag
sniva rajski san, sniva rajski san.

Tiha noć, blažena noć, javlja sad neba zbor,
svim pastirim sretan čas, svud se ori neba glas:
dodje Isus spas, dodje Isus spas.

(tekst kako ga pjeva naš crkveni zbor)

Sources:

Jurina i Franina, Rivista di varia cultura istriana, No. 55 / inverno 1993.
http://digilander.libero.it/driocastiel/storiaecultura/inniecanzonistriane/cantoepifania.htm
Tu scendi dalle stelle - http://ingeb.org/spiritua/tuscendi.html
Gesù Bambino - http://www.ingeb.org/spiritua/gesubamb.html
Pietro Valente
Giuseppe Radole, Folclore Istriano, MGS Press (Trieste, 1997)
History of Christmas Music - http://www.billpetro.com/HolidayHistory/hol/xmas/music.html
Božićna pjesma - courtesy of Grazia del Treppo
http://www.siroki.com/
http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa120600c.htm

Vedere anche:

Di alcuni vecchi canti natalizi di Rovigno (Italiano)

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