It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

Rembrandt The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds, 1634

"It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" (1849) — sometimes rendered as "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" — is a poem and Christmas carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts. Sears' lyrics are most commonly set to one of two melodies: "Carol," composed by Richard Storrs Willis, or "Noel," adapted from an English melody.

History

Edmund Sears composed the five-stanza poem in Common Metre Doubled during 1849. It first appeared on December 29, 1849, in the Christian Register in Boston.[1]

Sears served the Unitarian congregation in Wayland, Massachusetts before moving on to a larger congregation in Lancaster. After seven years of hard work, he suffered a breakdown and returned to Wayland. He wrote It Came Upon the Midnight Clear while serving as a part-time preacher in Wayland.[2] Writing during a period of personal melancholy, and with news of revolution in Europe and the United States' war with Mexico fresh in his mind, Sears portrayed the world as dark, full of "sin and strife," and not hearing the Christmas message.[3]

Sears is said to have written these words at the request of his friend, William Parsons Lunt, pastor of United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts for Pastor Lunt's Sunday School.[1] One account says the carol was first performed by parishioners gathered in Sears' home on Christmas Eve, but it is unknown to what tune as Willis' familiar melody was not written until the following year.[2]

According to Ken Sawyer, Sears' song is remarkable for its focus not on Bethlehem, but on his own time, and on the contemporary issue of war and peace. Written in 1849, it has long been assumed to be Sears' response to the just ended Mexican-American War.[2]

Melody

In 1850, Richard Storrs Willis, a composer who trained under Felix Mendelssohn, wrote the melody called "Carol." This melody is most often set in the key of B-flat major in a six-eight time signature. "Carol" is the most widely known tune to the song in the United States.[1][4][5][6]

In the United Kingdom the tune called "Noel", which was adapted from an English melody in 1874 by Arthur Sullivan, is the usual accompaniment. This tune also appears as an alternative in The Hymnal 1982, the hymnal of the United States Episcopal Church.[7]

Sheet music can be found at IMSLP.ORG for various melodies.

Lyrics

The full song comprises five stanzas. Some versions, including the United Methodist Hymnal[4] and Lutheran Book of Worship,[5] omit verse three, while others (including The Hymnal 1982) omit verse four.[8] Several variations also exist to Sears' original lyrics.

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,1
From heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled2
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not3
The love-song which they bring;4
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,5
And hear the angels sing.
And ye, beneath life's crushing load,6
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!
For lo!, the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,7
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold8
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,9
And the whole world give back the song10
Which now the angels sing.
— Original five-stanza hymn

Modified renderings:

1Peace on the earth, goodwill to all[4][5]
2Beneath the heavenly hymn have rolled[8]
3And warring humankind hears not[8]
4The tidings which they bring[8]
5O hush the noise and cease your strife[8]
6And you, beneath life's crushing load[5]
7By prophets seen of old[4][8]
8Shall come the time foretold[4][8]
9When the new heaven and earth shall own
The prince of Peace their King
10And all the world give back the song[5][8]

Recordings
It Came upon the Midnight Clear
Instrumental of the tune "Carol" - Piano, Violin, and English Horn; variation in first phrase present (see above)
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This song has been included in many of the Christmas albums recorded by numerous singers in the modern era. Johnny Mathis recorded this song on his first Christmas album Merry Christmas, (1958). In 1962, Bing Crosby had a medley of "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" and this song included on his Christmas album I Wish You a Merry Christmas. In 1965 Sergio Franchi covered this song in his Billboard Top 40 album The Heart of Christmas (Cuor' Di Natale).[9] The song is featured on The Ray Price Christmas Album (1969). Richard Carpenter used it as a short a capella intro on the Carpenters' 1984 album An Old-Fashioned Christmas. Eric Burdon & The Animals recorded the song to the tune of their hit single The House Of The Rising Sun. In 2006, a recording of the song by Daryl Hall & John Oates hit number one on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.[10] Kutless also recorded it for WOW Christmas: Green (2005), Highway 101 from the album A Christmas Tradition (1987), as did Josh Groban in Noël (2007) and Anne Murray from the album What a Wonderful Christmas (2001). Royce Campbell recorded the song on his CD, A Solo Guitar Christmas (2007).

In 1981, Swedish singer Stefan Borsch recorded the song in Swedish, as "Jag ser en stjärna på himmelen" ("I see a star in the sky") on the album I kväll jag tänder ett ljus.[11]

In 1992, Sam Phillips recorded a light guitar version of the song for the movie "A Midnight Clear". The song appears at the end credits.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "It Came upon the Midnight Clear", Cyberhymnal
  2. 1 2 3 Sawyer, Ken. "It came upon a Unitarian midnight clear", UUWorld, November 1, 2002
  3. ↑ Hughes, Peter. "Edmund Hamilton Sears", Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography, April 24, 2002
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 The United Methodist Hymnal, © 1989
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Lutheran Book of Worship, © 1978
  6. ↑ The official Unitarian-Universalist hymnal, "Singing the Living Tradition", © 1993
  7. ↑ Raymond F. Glover, ed. (1985). The Hymnal 1982. New York City: The Church Hymnal Corporation. pp. Hymn #90.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Raymond F. Glover, ed. (1985). The Hymnal 1982. New York City: The Church Hymnal Corporation. pp. Hymn #89.
  9. ↑ http://www.discogs.com Sergio Franchi
  10. ↑ "Fred Bronson, Chart Beat, December 21, 2006", billboard.com
  11. ↑ Information på Svensk mediedatabas
Preceded by
"Jingle Bells" by Kimberly Locke		 Billboard Adult Contemporary number-one single by
December 30, 2006 - January 6, 2007 		Succeeded by
"What Hurts the Most" by Rascal Flatts
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