Hymn Reflection : “O Holy Night”

French in origin, this powerhouse song has been recorded numerous times in nearly every language imaginable. Amazingly, this hymn was not written by a professional poet nor hymn writer, but by a wine merchant.

Placide Clappeau desired to have a life in academics, and showed great promise in many areas. Eventually, he received a license to practice law in Paris. To show his varied skills, however, just six years prior to earning this license, he won first prize in a drawing contest.

All this despite having had one hand amputated at the age of 8.

Cappeau, though a law license holder, went back to his father’s family business, selling wine and and other alcoholic drinks. His first love, though, would always be literature.

It is interesting that Wikipedia calls Clappeau, “a French poet and author.” That is despite that fact that writing–especially poetry–was never really more than a hobby for Placide Clappeau. He never truly made it his life’s work, but one of those poems became a classic. In French it is “Minuit, chrétiens.” Some will recognize the Latin name (in which the song is still performed at times), “Cantique de Noel.” We know it as “O Holy Night.”

Originally, the song was specifically written for Christmas. In fact, a literal translation of the song would include the word “Christmas.” A local priest, who knew of Clappeau’s ability to pen poetry, asked him for a Christmas poem in 1847, and “Minuit, chrétiens” was the result. He claimed to have written the song on a single stagecoach ride, but historians dispute this, since he usually had a very strict writing regimen.

Of course, Clappeau was just a poet, so he never set the lines to music. A musician from Paris, Adolphe Charles Adam, came across the poem and composed music specifically for it. To my knowledge, the music we sing today is the same as Adam’s original score.

If the original French poem were translated literally to English, the first verse would begin with the words, “Midnight, Christmas, it is the solemn hour, / When God as a man descended unto us.” The chorus would contain the lyrics, “People kneel down, wait for your deliverance. / Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer!”

Obviously, we don’t sing those words. So how did we get “O Holy Night?” It took the son of the president of Yale. A man named Timothy Dwight, who wrote the hymn “I Love Thy Kingdom Lord” among others, served as president of Yale in the mid-1800s. His son, John Dwight, came across the French song and decided to give it a revision to make it a more generic song, and not just a Christmas-based one. The result is the three-verse hymn we still sing today: “O Holy Night.” Rarely, however are all three verses sung. Most of us are familiar with the first verse, and a few more might know the third. I have never heard the second verse sung.

I love this song. When my family gets together, it is one of our favorite songs to sing, due to the message of the redemption brought by Jesus Christ. It should make us consider the power not only of that little baby in Bethlehem, but of the true and complete change He brought to this world.

And now you know how we got this great hymn.

Lyrics

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another, 
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Video

A couple of years ago, our blog did the Greatest Voices Project. The vocal range needed for “O Holy Night” has led it to be sung by a large number of people on that list, including David Phelps, Mariah Carey, Enrico Caruso, Josh Groban, Michael Crawford, and Celine Dion, among several others [all links to YouTube videos]. For our video, though, we chose a short but amazing performance of this song–sung without instruments–right here in Nashville. Enjoy Martina McBride.

—————————–

Photo credit: Waiting for the Word on Creative Commons

To receive our blog posts via rss, click here. To subscribe via email (and get a free e-book), click here.

To sign up for our free monthly enewsletter (and get a free e-book), click here.

Click the banner to visit our publishing website