"Angels We Have Heard on High" is a Christmas carol.
The words of the song are based on a traditional French carol known as Les Anges dans nos campagnes (literally, "Angels in our countryside"). Its most common English version was translated in 1862 by James Chadwick. The carol quickly became popular in the West Country, where it was described as 'Cornish' by R.R. Chope and featured in Pickard-Cambridge's Collection of Dorset Carols[1].
There is also a Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) translation of the carol which is known as Ainglean chuala sinn gu h-ard (literally, "Angels We Have Heard on High"). This was translated into Gaelic by Iain MacMilan from James Chadwick's English translation.
The song commemorates the story of the birth of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Luke, in which shepherds outside Bethlehem encounter a multitude of angels singing and praising the newborn child.
It is most commonly sung to the hymn tune "Gloria", as arranged by Edward Shippen Barnes. Its most memorable feature is its chorus:
- Gloria in Excelsis Deo! (Latin for "Glory to God in the highest")
where the sung vowel sound "o" of "Gloria" is fluidly sustained through a lengthy rising and falling melismatic melodic sequence:
- Glo-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-O-ri-a in Ex-cel-sis De-o!
"Gloria in Excelsis Deo" is itself the name of an older famous hymn.
The phrase also appears melismatically in the Latin version of the carol "O Come All Ye Faithful", though somewhat less extended:
- Glo-o-o-O-ri-a in Ex-cel-sis De-o.
In England, the words of James Montgomery's "Angels from the Realms of Glory" are sung to this tune, except with the "Gloria in excelsis Deo" refrain. It is from this usage that the tune sometimes is known as Iris, the name of Montgomery's newspaper[2].
In the English version of "O Come All Ye Faithful", that phrase is poetically translated as Glo-ry to Go-od, Glo-ry in the High-est, (or, "Glo-ry to Go-od, In-- the-- High-est"), reducing the melisma to no more than two notes per word.
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Lyrics
English
- Angels we have heard on high.................or................Angels we have heard on high
- Sweetly singing o’er the plains...................................Singing sweetly through the night
- And the mountains in reply........................................And the mountains in reply
- Echoing their joyous strains.......................................Echoing their brave delight.
CHORUS:
- Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
- Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
- Shepherds, why this jubilee?.................or....................Shepherds, why this jubilee?
- Why your joyous strains prolong?.................................Why these songs of happy cheer?
- What the gladsome tidings be.......................................What great brightness did you see?
- Which inspire your heavenly song? Chorus.....................What glad tidings did you hear? Chorus
- Come to Bethlehem and see
- Him Whose birth the angels sing;
- Come, adore on bended knee,
- Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Chorus
- See Him in a manger laid
- Jesus Lord of heaven and earth;
- Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
- With us sing our Savior's birth. Chorus
Gaelic
- Ainglean chuala sinn gu h-ard,
- Seinn cho milis feadh an àit',
- Na beanntannan co - sheirm an ciùil,
- 'S Mac talla freagairt bòidheach ciùin.
SEISD (CHORUS):
- Seinn moladh agus glòir, Moladh agus glòir
- Moladh agus glòir do Dhia, An Dàrna Pearsa naomh den Trian.
- Seinn moladh agus glòir, Moladh agus glòir
- Moladh agus glòir do Dhia, An Dàrna Pearsa naomh den Trian.
- Chìobairean, carson ur duan?
- Carson a tha e àlainn buan?
- Innsibh dhuinn ur naidheachd-ghaoil
- Dhùisg sibh suas gu ceòl cho naomh. Seisd (Chorus)
- Thig gu Bethlehem, thig is chì,
- Chì thu'n Tighearna Dia do Righ;
- Lùb do ghlùin 's thoir adhradh dhà,
- Crìosda rugadh dhuinn na phàisd'. Seisd (Chorus)
Media
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See also
References
- ^ Angels We Have Heard On High. Christmas-Carols.org.uk. Accessed 7th December 2009
- ^ Angels from the Realms of Glory
External links
- Free sheet music of Angels We Have Heard on High for SATB from Cantorion.org
- Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary: Gloria -- Tune: 000095
- Cyber Hymnal
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