ExclusiveChristmas Carol: God Rest You Merry Gentlemen
【Classical music and nature 古典音樂小站】Christmas Carol: God Rest You Merry Gentlemen. This beautiful piece was played by harrysadlermusic. It is a royalty free music provided through pond5.com.
The text and melody can be traced back to the mid-18th century, although it is sometimes thought to have been composed in the 15th century. A manuscript of the song dating from around 1760 is the oldest known print. A more precise source is a quotation in an opera review from November 1764. The text refers to the announcement of the birth to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-20 EU) and emphasises the significance of the birth and life of Jesus Christ for the lives of all people. The quiet, sustained melody in a minor key contrasted with the more angular chorales of the church at the time of its composition.
The text was first published in full in 1833 in the collection of Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, edited by William B Sandys. As early as 1823, William Hone published the first lines of the carol in his Ancient Mysteries Described under the heading 'List of Christmas Carols now annually printed'.
Charles Dickens also quoted the carol in his Christmas story A Christmas Carol, published in 1843.
Full lyrics to ‘God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen’:
God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's pow'r
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway
The Son of God to find.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
But when to Bethlehem they came,
Whereat this infant lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth efface.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy.
The video was shot by Christian Schlegel near a castle, where a family was having a nice BBQ. The video was edited by Wenjing Ma.
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