beauty and a timeless message I dearly love What I’ve always thought of as a humble yet glorious turns out to have a vaguely spicy story behind it Confession: I stopped writing this essay on “O Holy Night,” soured by something I couldn’t name but the urge returned and I started it up again several days later almost negative feeling as I read article after article to research its story I think I’ve figured it out: what I’ve always thought of as a humble yet glorious turns out to have a vaguely spicy story (or three or four – depends on the writer’s angle) behind it a story of what happened after its premiere at midnight Mass in 1847 in Roquemaure Atheists and socialists versus the French Catholic Church It feels rather “ripped from the headlines,” not to mention commercial and is robbing me of the very vibe I was looking to share over this iconic Christmas song Penned initially in 1843 as a poem by Frenchman Placide Chappeau it was translated to English twelve years later French Romantic-era organist and composer Adolphe Adam (1803 – 1856) is the creator of the scores from the ballets I do need to continue writing about “O Holy Night.” Because the timeless Christmas story from the Gospel I usually attend Mass alone; my husband is not religious and he’s far too old to be dragged to Christmas Eve Mass (recognize here I belong to Holy Cross Church in Santa Cruz housed in a beautiful structure that warms and calms me every time I’m inside I never feel “alone” there and I always enjoy Christmas Eve Mass families and friends gathering in their homes in spite of the world’s distressing conflict and strife “Cantique de Noël,” sung by Andrea Bocelli in a stirring rendition that I instantly loved just as much as the English version And now here’s a beautiful rendition in English by soprano Leontyne Price So you won’t be getting the whole story behind “O Holy Night” from me There are too many versions and variations already that include references to an 1870 Christmas truce in the trenches during the Franco-Prussian war and an anecdote about the very first broadcast of live music (but was it really “O Holy Night” he played on the violin?) Here are a few confirmed facts I can share: the priest of the local church asked a resident — wine merchant and poet Placide Chappeau — to commemorate the church’s newly renovated organ with a poem consulting the Gospel of Luke to pen a stirring poem composer Adolphe Adam was asked to set the words of Chappeau’s poem to music changing its name to “Cantique de Noël.” Soprano Emily Laurey sang it at the Roquemaure church at midnight Mass (on Christmas Eve Conflict arose when Chappeau joined a socialist movement Amid suspicions that Adolphe Adam was of Jewish descent the French Catholic Church leaders decided “Cantique de Noel” was “unfit for church services because of its lack of musical taste and total absence of the spirit of religion.” But the French citizenry of the 1850s didn’t care about the ban or the politics renaming it “O Holy Night” and publishing it in his “Dwight’s Journal of Music.” The lyrics in their entirety have a beautiful one that’s a balm for the soul in these conflicted Click HERE for the rest of the lyrics César Franck’s “Panis Angelicus.” I highly recommend you give that one a listen as well Just don’t ever ask me to choose between these two glorious Christmas songs Republished with gracious permission from The Classical Girl (December 2023) The featured image is courtesy of Pixabay All comments are moderated and must be civil Comments that are critical of an essay may be approved but comments containing ad hominem criticism of the author will not be published comments containing web links or block quotations are unlikely to be approved Keep in mind that essays represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Imaginative Conservative or its editor or publisher Even as a child I can remember elderly ladies in tears listening to him Your essay is a great reminder of how the message of the sacred can penetrate and transform our human condition and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" The Imaginative Conservative is sponsored by The Free Enterprise Institute (a U.S Your donation to the Institute in support of The Imaginative Conservative is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law Registration for the Vertical MRO Conference in Kelowna B.C. is now open! Click here to learn more. Bell 525 Walkaround: The First Commercial Fly-by-Wire Helicopter Bell 505 Contact seller for price Year: 2022 Click on the button below to send an email to our team and we will get to it as soon as possible Have a story idea you would like to suggest Love on the Ground is the kind of French-farcical roundelay that Gallic cinema is frequently accused of producing en masse when the masks drop away in Love on the Ground there is little behind them worthy of illumination Keith Uhlich's writing has been published in The Hollywood Reporter He is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "a6ff838b9b5394a1143f70632f222803" );document.getElementById("facec42938").setAttribute( "id"