Mangalore: Journey into World of Carols with Dr Michael Lobo's Books
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Dec 24: Come Christmas season, and melodious carols resound in the air. Carol singing is an imporant part of the celebrations, with carol troupes, usually dressed in red-and-white outfits going around the city spreading joy of the season much in advance. But few know the history of carols and their evaluation over the centuries.
Two books authored by Dr Michael Lobo - 'A Thousand Pages of Songs' and its companion volume 'Popular Music : A Historical and Thematic Analysis' take readers on an interesting journey into the history of carols, dating back to medieval times.
'A Thousand Pages of Songs' is a work of research, an encyclopaedia of songs of all eras - about 3,600 of them ranging from medieval folk songs, through the era of parlour songs of the late 19th and early 20th century, to the rock’n’roll music of the 1950s and ‘60s.
The book comprises not only words of each song, but also its history and other details, including the year of composition, the names of the songwriter/s, the artists who made the song famous, and so on. Some of the well-known Christmas carols included in the book are 'Adeste Fidelis', 'Angels we have heard on high', 'Away in a manger', 'The First Noel', 'God rest ye merry gentleman', 'Good King Wenceslas', 'Go tell it on the mountain', 'Hark the herald angels sing', 'It came upon a midnight clear', 'Joy to the world', 'Oh Christmas tree', 'Oh holy night', 'Oh little town of Bethlehem', 'Once in Royal David’s City', 'Three Kings of Orient' and 'Silent Night'.
The book also gives a glimpse of the history of famous hymns such as 'Abide with me' and 'Nearer, my God, to Thee', of famous patriotic songs and national anthems such as 'God save the king (queen)', 'La Marseillais', 'Deutschlandleid', 'The Star-Spangled Banner', 'O Canada', 'Advance Australia Fair', as well as 'Jana Gana Mana'.
The book also gives interesting facts on a number of songs. For example, in the original version of the 19th century folk song 'She’ll be coming round the mountain', the ‘she’ in the title referred not to a girl but to a train. Residents of small towns in the US Midwest sang this folk song as they excitedly waited the arrival of the old stream trains that had to circumnavigate mountains before arriving at their destination.
From folk songs to children's songs to award-winning hits, the book is a treasury of knowledge on carols and music in general. Interestingly, a few songs known in India which for some reason did not attain hit status in the West also find place in the book, be it the popular music of Radio Ceylon in the 1960s with songs such as Happy Birthday Polka (It’s a hap-hap-happy birthday), recorded by the Big Ben Banjo Band; Buttercup a-golden hair, recorded by Dean Martin; Game of Love, recorded by Tony Brent; Ladies of Calcutta, recorded by the Four Preps, Little Dutch Girl, recorded by George Morgan; Magic Moon, recorded by Ned Miller; Roses of Rio, recorded by the Four Aces; Tonight’s my night, recorded by Connie Francis – as well as English-language songs of Indian origin such as An Evening in Gay Maharashtra, Bombay meri hai, and I married a female wrestler. None of the above were hits in the West, and little information about them can be found on the Internet. Though some of them have now been uploaded on You-Tube, accessing them will not be easy without keying in the correct names of both the songs and the singers. This is where the book gains more significance.
'A Thousand Pages of Songs' happens to be only one of its kind in existence in the field of popular music. The book is officially priced at Rs 1,250, but many of the booksellers may give a discount of 20%, that is, a round figure of Rs 1,000.
Popular Music : A Historical and Thematic Analysis
This is a companion volume to 'A Thousand Pages of Songs'. Unlike the major work, which takes the form of an encyclopaedia of songs, the companion volume has a historical format – telling the story, as it were, of how popular music evolved from the folk songs of medieval times to gradually more complex forms of music.
The book provides a survey of the five basic eras in the history of popular music - the folk song era, the parlour era, the big band era, the prime years of pop and the modern rock era.
Excerpt from 'A Thousand Pages of Songs'
Silent Night (Stille Nacht) [Austria/Germany: 1818]
Readers may be a little surprised to know that Silent Night, the most famous of Christmas Carols, is of relatively recent origin – having first seen the light of day in the Catholic Church of St Nicholas at Oberndorf in Salzburg, Austria, on the German (Bavarian) border. There is a well-established story of how it came to be written. On Christmas Eve, 1818, the organ at the Church of St Nicholas broke down. The choir thus had to make do with a guitar, but despite this, the midnight mass was a resounding success because, in order to make up for the disappointment at losing their organ, the assistant parish priest and the organist sat down together to write a new carol. The organist – Franz Xaver Gruber (b. 25 Nov 1787, Hochburg, Austria / d. 7 June 1863, Hallein, Austria) – composed the music. The curate – Joseph Mohr (b. 11 Dec 1792, Salzburg, Austria / d. 4 Dec 1848, Wagrain, Austria) – wrote the lyrics. They are said to have done the work together in the few hours before the midnight mass and called the composition Stille Nacht.
This pretty story may not be altogether true; that is to say, there is no doubt that Gruber and Mohr composed the carol together, but they may have worked on it over a fairly long period. Moreover, for the first seven years of its existence, the hymn remained unknown outside Oberndorf. Then in 1825 it was taken to the Tyrol in Austria by Karl Mauracher, an organ builder who was shown the hymn when he visited Oberndorf (Gruber used to distribute copies of the carol to interested persons without even troubling to add his name). In the Tyrol, it came to the attention of a glove maker named Joseph Strasser who was also the head of a singing family group and a student of folk music. It would appear that Strasser was unaware of the true authorship; at any rate he paraded the carol at a Leipzig concert for Christmas 1832, calling it a Tyrolean folk carol – and giving it the name Song of Heaven. This carol (along with others) was actually sung by Strasser’s four children – his son, Joseph, and his three daughters, Caroline, Andrea, and Amalie. Their performance so impressed the king and queen of Saxony that they were asked to sing it to the royal children.
Now the fame of the carol began to spread rapidly. A music publisher named A. R. Friese
(who had been present at the concert) proceeded to publish the carol (its first appearance in print) as one of four Tyrolean folk songs sung by the Strasser family. In the years that had elapsed since it was first composed by Gruber and Mohr, its melody had undergone a slight change (influenced by Tyrolean folk music), but nevertheless the original composers must have known at once that the carol was their own. Controversy was inevitable and the true composers actually had to take legal proceedings before they were able to establish their claim to authorship. Incidentally, Gruber and Mohr were themselves Austrian by birth.
Here are the six original German verses written by Mohr – his original manuscript has been lost, but various copies survive: one is in the Salzburg Museum Carolino Augusteum and is entitled Kirchenlied auf die heilige Christnacht ... (Church song for Christmas night for soprano and alto with quiet organ accompaniment):
Six original verses
1. Stille nacht! Heilige nacht! Alles schliift, einsam wacht!
Nur das traute heilige pear – holder knab im lockigten haar;
Schlafe in himmlischer ruh! schlafe in himmlischer ruh!
2. Stille nacht! Heilige nacht! Gottes sohn, o wie lacht!
Lieb' aus deinem göttlichen mund – da uns schlägt die rettende stund;
Jesus in deiner geburt! Jesus in deiner gebur!.
3. Stille nacht! Heilige nacht! Die der welt heil gebracht!
Aus des himmels goldenem hohn – uns der gnaden fülle läbt sehn;
Jesum in menscliengestalt! Jesum in nwnschengestalt!
4. Stille nacht! Heilige nacht! Wo sich heut alle macht!
Vaterlicher liebe ergob – und als bruder huldvoll umschlob;
Jesus die völker der welt! Jesus die völker der welt!
5. Stille nacht! Heilige nacht! Lange schon uns bedacht!
Als der Herr von vom Grimme befreit – in der Vater ungrauer zeit;
Aller welt schonung verhieb! Aller welt schonung verhieb!
6. Stille nacht! Heilige nacht! Hirten erst kundge macht!
Durch der engel alleluja – tönt es laut bei feme und nah;
Jesus der Retter ist da! Jesus der Retter ist da!
These six verses roughly translate as:
1. Silent night! Holy night! Sleeps the earth, calm and quiet!
Lovely child now take thy rest – on thy mother’s heavenly breast;
Sleep in heavenly peace! Sleep in heavenly peace!
2. Silent night! Holy night! When thou smil’st, love beams bright!
Pierce the darkness all around – Son of God, thy birth doth sound;
Our salvation’s hour! Our salvation’s hour!
3. Silent night! Holy night! From the heaven’s golden height!
Christ descends the earth to free – grace divine by thee to see;
God in human form! God in human form!
4. Silent night! Holy night! God above at that sight!
Doth with fatherly love rejoice – while earth’s peoples with one voice;
Jesus their brother proclaim! Jesus their brother proclaim!
5. Silent night! Holy night! Adam’s sin damned us quite!
But the Son to set us free – from the Father’s stern decree;
Now in his mercy is born! Now in his mercy is born!
6. Silent night! Holy night! Shepherds first with delight!
Heard the angelic alleluia – echoing loud both near and far;
Jesus the Saviour is here! Jesus the Saviour is here!
Although the fame of the carol quickly spread, no English version appeared for many decades; indeed, in England, the carol was long considered ‘vulgar’ – that is, suitable only for common singing, rather than as church music – and therefore did not find a place in most carol books of the 19th century. It was in USA that the three familiar English verses that are still sung today first made their appearance. They were written by John F. Young about 1860 but apparently not published till 1876, when it appeared in the "Sunday School Hymnal & Service Book", at Medford, Massachusetts.
John Freeman Young (b. 30 Oct 1820, Pittston, Maine / d. 15 Nov 1885, New York) was an Episcopal minister; he served at Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and New York – and became second bishop of Florida in 1867. His work "Great Hymns of the Church" was published posthumously in 1887.
Modern English version
1. Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright!
Round yon virgin mother and child – holy infant so tender and mild;
Sleep in heavenly peace! Sleep in heavenly peace!
2. Silent night! Holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight!
Glories stream from heaven afar – heavenly hosts sing alleluia;
Christ the Saviour is born! Christ the Saviour is born!
3. Silent night! Holy night! Son of God, love's pure light!
Radiant beams thy holy face – with the dawn of redeeming grace;
Jesus, Lord at thy birth! Jesus, Lord at thy birth!
Silent Night appears to have been first recorded by the Haydn Quartet in 1905. Even during the early years of the 20th century, it had not really established itself as the premier Christmas carol. But by World War II, it had definitely attained this status, and the 1942 recording of the carol by Bing Crosby (backed by Adeste Fidelis) was a multi-million seller. Crosby donated all royalties to a fund for US missionaries in China.