- Date: ca. 1582
- Composer:
Christmas Traditional - Period: Renaissance (1450-1599)
Review
The melody for this jolly, beloved (Eric Routley: "[It] contains snow and philanthropy in just the proportions calculated to make it a favourite"), and also occasionally detested ("doggerel"; The Oxford Book of Carols: "rather confused narrative") carol came from the scale-wise Easter tune "Tempus adest floridum" contained in the 1582 Finnish carol collection Piae Cantiones. The modern lyrics were written by J.M. Neale and first published as a Boxing Day carol in Neale and Helmore's Carols for Christmastide (1853 - 1854).The fictional text is loosely based on the tenth century Bohemian prince Wenceslas (Vaclav in the original tongue) born ca. 907 near Prague of a Christian father, Duke Vratislav, and a pagan mother, Dragomira, but raised by Ludmilla, his Christian grandmother. Vaclav became Duke (never a king) around 925, spread Christianity throughout the land, which, four years later, led to his murder by his pagan brother Boleslav. The assassination took place in a church where he had been given sanctuary, and soon rumors of miraculous events grew. Through spiritual awe or earthly threat of punishment, the German Emperor, Boleslav converted and moved his brother's remains to St. Vitus' Cathedral in Prague, where on certain occasions, now patron saint Vaclav receives a golden crown on his skull. He is said to have been generous to the poor and even worked in the fields harvesting corn and grapes to make bread and wine for church Mass.
Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about,
Deep and crisp and even;
Brightly shone the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Gathering winter fuel.
"Hither, page, and stand by me,
If thou knowst it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?..."
In reality, Vaclav did have a peasant servant named Podivin who "stood by him" both as advisor and, ultimately, as a defender who killed one of Vaclav's assassins. That got Podivin hanged by Boleslav. A memorial chapel stands amidst the woods at the site where he was executed.
"Bring me flesh and bring me wine,
Bring me pine logs hither,
Thou and I will see him dine,
When we bear him thither..."
"Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind grows stronger;
Fails my heart I know not how;
I can go no longer."
"Mark my footsteps, good my page;
Tread thou in them boldly;
Thou shalt find this winter's rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly."
"In his master's steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod
Which the saint had printed..."
This ability to leave melted footprints, like the heat-generating "tuma" energy of Tibetan monks, has sometimes triggered humorous comments like one regarding the image as "reminiscent of Baked Alaska" (George Hill, London Times).
Therefore Christian men be sure,
Wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor.
Shall yourselves find blessing. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
Albums with Excerpt Performances of the Work
| Title | Date |
| Christmas Concert | 2000 |
