An M31 Christmas Track 4: Wenceslaus

Good King Wenceslas has always been one of my favorite Christmas songs. It was the very first carol I learned to play on the piano when I was 6 years old.

Written in 1853 in England by John Mason Neale and Thomas Helmore, Neale’s lyrics take inspiration from a Bohemian legend of a wealthy duke known for his good works. After a Pope declared the legend fact, and a Roman Emperor posthumously conferred the title of King on the duke, both legend and song now refer to the pious duke as King Wenseslas.

Neale’s lyrics tell the story of the good king seeing a peasant trying to gather fuel in the snowy deep. The king calls his page and sets out to bring food and fuel to him.

The page falters, not being able to endure the frigid wind and deep snow.

The King encourages the page to follow closely in his footsteps, and so together they bring rescue to the helpless man.

The carol has five verses, here are the first two:

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, tho’ the frost was cruel,

When a poor man came in sight, gath’ring winter fuel.

“Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know’st it, telling,

Yonder peasant, who is he?

Where and what his dwelling?”

“Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain;

Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

(The traditional English spelling of the king’s name is “Wenceslaus”, and since Neale and Helmore were English, I decided to use their spelling.)

You can get (or hear) the album at:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/42hKWTqaset9WdkZpMDnbX?si=7bS0UE2LQDyDw3DQyGZ51Q
• CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/m3138
• Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-m31-christmas/1442066188

It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and other streaming/download services.

An M31 Christmas Track 2: Meditation (Ave Maria)

An M31 Christmas Track 2 is Meditation or Ave Maria.

The French composer Charles Gounod published what we now know as Ave Maria in 1853 as Méditation sur le Premier Prélude de Piano de S. Bach. Gounod composed the melody and superimposed it over Prelude #1 in C Major from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, written 137 years earlier.

The words that generally accompany the song are the complete Catholic prayer called Angelic Salutation, Hail Mary, or in Latin, Ave Maria.

Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum,
Benedicta tu in mulieribus Et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus.
Sancta Maria, sancta Maria, Maria, Ora pro nobis, nobis peccatoribus
Nunc et in hora, in hora mortis nostrae
Amen, amen.

And here is the English translation:

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners,
Now and at the hour of our death.
Amen, amen.

A few years ago, one of the songs I was learning was Bach’s Prelude #1 in C Major, right before I needed to start working on the next track for my musical Christmas card that I did every year. That, together with listening to the excellent Carpenter’s version of this song prompted me to choose it.

You can get (or hear) the album at:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/42hKWTqaset9WdkZpMDnbX?si=7bS0UE2LQDyDw3DQyGZ51Q
• CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/m3138
• Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-m31-christmas/1442066188

It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and other streaming/download services.

An M31 Christmas Track 3: Some Children See Him

I heard Some Children See Him for the first time on George Winston’s album December. His version is without lyrics, so for years I was unaware that it actually had words, and unaware of this Christmas song’s history.

Some Children See Him was written in 1951 by Alfred Burt, with words by Wilha Hutson. Years earlier, Burt’s father, a pastor of an Episcopal church in Michigan, started a tradition of writing a musical Christmas card to family and friends, the words and music written by himself. Soon however, he asked his son to provide the musical settings for his words.

After Burt’s father died, Alfred asked friend Wilha Hutson to provide the words, and the tradition continued in his father’s honor, but the carols were unknown outside the Burt’s mailing list.

The carols were finally recorded in 1954. Some Children See Him appeared on that first recording, and since then, several musicians have recorded their own version. George Winston, Kenny Loggins, and James Taylor have all provided their renditions of this carol.

Here are the first two verses:

Some children see him
Lily white
The baby Jesus
Born this night
Some children see him
Lily white
With tresses soft
And fair

Some children see him
Bronzed and brown
The Lord of heav’n
To Earth come down
Some children see him
Bronzed and brown
With dark
And heavy hair

You can get (or hear) the album at:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/42hKWTqaset9WdkZpMDnbX?si=7bS0UE2LQDyDw3DQyGZ51Q
• CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/m3138
• Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-m31-christmas/1442066188

It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and other streaming/download services.

An M31 Christmas Track 1: Gloucestershire Wassail

The first track on An M31 Christmas is Gloucestershire Wassail. I chose it as the opening track because I think it perfectly captures many of the elements of the Christmas season; the feelings of excitement and joy, the time to gather as family and friends to celebrate the joyous event that is the birth of Jesus Christ.

The English custom of “wassailing,” or visiting the leading households in the village on Christmas Eve with a decorated wooden bowl, and singing a wassailing song, apparently began in early 19th Century England. (The “wassail” custom actually has a much earlier origin, but doing it at Christmastime began in the 1800s.) Different villages in Gloucestershire used different tunes with various different lyrics. However, the most well-known version (the one we hear today) was popularized by Ralph Vaughn Williams in 1928. He used the tune from the version popular in Pembroke, Heretfordshire, and gathered the lyrics from William Bayless and Isaac Bennett, both residents of Gloucestershire. There are many variations to the lyrics, and traditionally there are ten verses. Here are the first four:

Wassail! wassail! all over the town, Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown; Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree; With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee. Here's to our horse, and to his right ear, God send our master a happy new year: A happy new year as e'er he did see, With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

So here is to Cherry and to his right cheek Pray God send our master a good piece of beef And a good piece of beef that may we all see With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee. Here's to our mare, and to her right eye, God send our mistress a good Christmas pie; A good Christmas pie as e'er I did see, With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

(Note: You may notice that the official track name is misspelled as "Glouchestershire Wassail"; I spelled it correctly when I wrote this before distribution, but then misspelled it when preparing the distribution. D'oh!)

You can get (or hear) the album at:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/42hKWTqaset9WdkZpMDnbX?si=7bS0UE2LQDyDw3DQyGZ51Q
• CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/m3138
• Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/an-m31-christmas/1442066188

It's also available on Amazon, Google Play, and other streaming/download services.