I couldn’t go to church with the Baron this morning; I seldom can. So instead I listened to many versions of my favorite Advent hymn.
I also looked up the background again for this ancient plain chant, whose words (from the O Antiphons) probably date to the 9th century – or so it said in the choral hymnbook of my childhood, which also attributed authorship of the plain chant to Thomas Aquinas, and the words to a Syriac church lost in the mists of time. Little did I know – or did my teachers know – the repeated attempts to eradicate that most ancient of Christian communities, probably formed (alongside similar Jewish communities) in the diaspora following the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Whatever.
Here is a wiki with a long discussion and a good presentation of more modern versions of the hymn, whose popularity arose with The Oxford Movement:
The pre-history of the text stretches back to the origins of the O Antiphons themselves, which were in existence by, at the latest, the eighth century. However, to speak meaningfully of the text of the hymn per se, they would need to be paraphrased in strophic, metrical form. It is certainly within the realm of possibility that efforts along those lines could have been made quite early; we know, for instance, that they were paraphrased extensively by the English poet Cynewulf in a poem written before the year 800.[1] However, despite popular imagination of an early origin for “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” the hymn’s history is first substantiated only much later.
No thank you. Like most of us, I prefer my childhood’s faith and imagination: all those afternoons of practice in the choir loft as our young voices echoed from the vaulted ceilings never bored me…the fact that I was repeating sounds reverberating down thousands of years of faith never failed to ground me more solidly within the context of my faith.
This is the final week of Advent, a month of Sundays repeating endlessly in The Liturgical Year. In the coming days, the final hectic time for everyone who ‘does’ Christmas, I may post other versions of this hymn. It encapsulates so perfectly the anticipation, the adumbration, of a fast-approaching event that has repeated year after year for the whole of my conscious life. I love the culmination of Advent into the Octave of Christmas, and the Nativity narratives (which appear in only two of the Christian gospels). But these are only sideshows to the Reality. Still, what sideshows they are! Choirs of angels singing to shepherds on the hillsides, Wise men showing up with gifts foretelling suffering, followed by a hasty flight into Egypt…all that is still to come. At the moment, Joseph and Mary are on the dusty road to Bethlehem, obedient to the Roman call for a census…
I played this as an entrance for every Sunday in Advent. So beautiful.
“Choirs of angels singing to shepherds on the hillsides, Wise men showing up with gifts foretelling suffering, followed by a hasty flight into Egypt…all that is still to come. At the moment, Joseph and Mary are on the dusty road to Bethlehem, obedient to the Roman call for a census… ”
Thank you–For me, wonderfully evocative of a snow-covered time between end of school and the building euphoria of sleds, snow forts, sermons, carols and family. And all the leftover products of the Christmas turkey so comically listed in A Christmas Story. My ancient version of Linus’s explanation of Christmas.
I am trying to juxtapose this to the PBUH calls of the tards… and I just know they are the spawn of the devil.
This is heavenly. Thank you.
I’m an atheist, but that was a beautifully done rendition. Made my eyes water.
I posted this link on my Facebook page and it’s very, very popular. Most of my “friends” on Facebook are atheists, as well.
It was sung in our church last evening separately , in Arabic, Greek, Coptic and Aramaic by people who attend our church. These people, whose original languages are those mentioned sang…. they are not trained singers, just folks in the church….with NO musical instruments, which is the Orthodox Christian tradition .
One comment in the Advent program from the Priest: Advent means that we await the Christ. I had not thought of that in a few years, I mean the exact meaning of the word. So the ” Come oh Come Emmanuel” words are so VERY proper…. we await.
We are quite diverse at our church… mmmmmm, do you think the PC folks in DC would “approve”??
Probably not.
I am a Jew.
And I was an amateur cantor and also sang in Christian, Jewish and secular choirs.
I love this rendition.
When I hear the plain chant, I think of winter in northern Europe. The Romans are gone. The dark and cold is all around. And those stubborn, brave Irish monks singing for their own salvation, for they saw themselves as the “captive Israel.” The longing expressed in the chant is too real to come from a more wealthy, satisfied Christianity. It reminds me of certain Yom Kippur motifs, not in content, but in substance.
I, too, know that Veni Emmanuel is known to history only later. I, too, persist in believing that it likely was sung much earlier.
good pick D .. this girl is lovely & can sing like an angel ..
Beautiful! Thank you.
Thank you. I needed that.
Peace be with you.
ca
wrsa
I sang it to my voice teacher and now I’m doing the tenor part in a hastily thrown together quartet at our upcoming recital! Thanks Dymphna; it’s gorgeous!
I’m late to the party, but just want to say that is one of the most beautiful things I’ve heard.
Thank you.