MENDELSSOHN
The tune is from the second chorus of Felix Mendelssohn’s Festgesang (Op. 68) for male voices and brass; it was first performed in 1840 at the Gutenberg Festival in Leipzig, a festival celebrating the anniversary of Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press. Mendelssohn’s tune is similar to another that appeared one hundred years earlier in “The Song of Mars” from the John Pepusch opera Venus and Adonis. Mendelssohn once wrote of this music, “It will never do to sacred words. ” William H. Cummings (b. Sidbury, Devonshire, England, 1831; d. Dulwich, London, England, 1915) may not have been aware of Mendelssohn’s opinion; he adapted the tune to Wesley’s text in 1856. When they were placed together in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861), “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” became a very popular hymn. Cummings had a lifelong love of Felix Mendelssohn, sparked when he sang at age sixteen in the first London performance of Elijah, which was directed by Mendelssohn himself. As a young boy, Cummings had been a chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral and later sang in the choirs of the Temple Church, Westminster Abbey, and the Chapel Royal. Cummings became a famous tenor—he sang in oratorios and was especially known for 498 CHRISTMAS his evangelist role in the Bach passions. He taught voice at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Normal College and School for the Blind in London and was also an accomplished organist. Cummings wrote books and articles on music history, wrote a biography of Henr Liturgical Use: Christmas Eve or Christmas Day worship services, especially as a glorious processional; anytime during the church year in conjunction with worship services in which this part of the creed or eschatological themes (st. 5) are preached; church school programs.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: Heavenly proclamation of Christ's birth (stanza 1) → affirmation of Christ's eternal divine nature (stanza 2) → titles of Christ's redemptive work (stanza 3) → soteriological purpose: why Christ was born (stanza 4)