Thursday Thirteen # 9

My 13 Banish-The-Yuletide-Humbug-Blues Christmas Songs

1. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

This was used in the film Meet Me In St. Louis in 1944. Judy Garland starred in the film and added some of the lyrics. At first, the words very dark and she didn't feel comfortable singing them in the scene, so she helped change them to lighten the mood of the song. She sang "Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow," in the film. In the 1950s, Frank Sinatra changed the line to "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough."

2. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

It was written by Edmund Hamilton Sears in 1849. The carol started life as a poem written by Sears who was a minister living in Massachusetts at the time. The music was composed by American musician Richard Storrs Willis in 1859 who was inspired by the words of the poem.

3. The Christmas Song

Sung by Nat King Cole in 1946, "The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé , the song was written during a blistering hot summer in an effort to "stay cool by thinking cool."

4. What Child Is This

This is a popular Christmas carol that was written in 1865. At the age of twenty-nine, writer William Chatterton Dix was struck with a sudden, near-fatal illness and was confined to bed rest for several months, during which he went into a deep depression. Yet out of his near-death experience, Dix wrote many hymns, including "What Child is This?” It was later set to the traditional English melody of "Greensleeves".

5. Adeste Fidelis (O, Come All Ye Faithful)

"Adeste Fidelis" is the name of a hymn tune written by John Francis Wade in 1743 and the first line of the Latin text for which the tune was written. The text itself has less clear beginnings and may have been written as early as the 13th century, though it has been concluded that Wade himself was probably the author. The original four verses of the hymn were extended to a total of eight, and these have been translated into many languages many times, though the English "O Come All Ye Faithful" is particularly widespread.

6. Away In A Manger

This carol was originally published in 1885. Its publication was in a Lutheran Sunday school book and this created the misconception that the lyrics of "Away in a Manger" were actually written by Martin Luther himself. The author is unknown. The music was composed by William J. Kirkpatrick in 1895.

7. Cantique de Noel (O, Holy Night)

This is a well-known Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, Chrétiens" by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877), an accomplished amateur. Cappeau was asked to write a Christmas poem by a parish priest. It has become a standard modern carol for solo performance with an operatic finish.

8. We Three Kings of Orient Are

This famous American carol was written in 1857 by Rev. John Henry Hopkins. The minister is reputed to have written it for the General Theological Seminary in New York City as part of their Christmas pageant.

9. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” was written by Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley founder of the Methodist church, in 1739. A somber man, he requested slow and solemn music for his lyrics and thus this Christmas carol was sung to a different tune initially. Over a hundred years later, Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) composed a cantata in 1840 to commemorate Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. English musician William H. Cummings adapted Mendelssohn’s music to fit the lyrics of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” already written by Wesley.

10. Angels We Have Heard On High

The words of the song are based on a traditional French carol known as Les Anges dans nos Campagnes (literally, The Angels in our Countryside). Its most common English version was translated in 1862 by James Chadwick. It is most commonly sung to the hymn tune "Gloria", as arranged by Edward Shippen Barnes

11. O Tannenbaum

"O Tannenbaum", or, in its English version, O Christmas Tree is a Christmas carol of German origin. A Tannenbaum is a fir tree (German die Tanne) or Christmas tree (der Weihnachtsbaum). Its evergreen qualities have long inspired musicians to write several "Tannenbaum" songs in German. The best known version was penned in 1824 by a Leipzig organist and teacher named Ernst Anschütz. The melody is an old folk tune.

12. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

The exact date of Tate's composition is not known, but the words appeared in Tate and Nicholas Brady's 1700 supplement to their Psalter, New Version of the Psalms of David of 1696. It was the only Christmas hymn authorized to be sung by the Anglican Church; before 1700 only the Psalms of David were permitted to be sung. It is written in common meter and based on the Gospel of Luke 2:8-14, although the gospel's "Peace on earth to men of good will" is modified to the more encompassing "Goodwill henceforth from heaven to men". It is the only one of the sixteen works in the 1700 supplement to still be sung today.

13. Carol of the Bells

"Carol of the Bells" (also known as the "Ukrainian Bell Carol") is a Christmas carol adapted from the Ukrainian "Shchedryk" by Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych, which was first performed in December 1916 by students at Kiev University. It was a part of the Ukrainian National Chorus repertoire during its 1,000-plus concert tour around Europe and the Americas. It was introduced to American audiences on October 5, 1921 at Carnegie Hall.