A musical festive feast from around Europe
With Christmas approaching, European Collections curators introduce some festive songs from the countries they cover.
âO Tannenbaumâ (âO Christmas Treeâ)
Chosen by Susan Reed, Lead Curator Germanic Collections
Title page of The Christmas Tree, a present from Germany (London, 1844). 12803.ff.3.
Which Christmas Carol links a student drinking song, a loverâs lament and a socialist anthem? None other than âO Tannenbaumâ, one of the German-language carols that have gained worldwide popularity.
Originally the song had nothing to do with Christmas. The evergreen fir tree as a symbol of constancy was a familiar poetic motif when, in 1819, August Zarnack used it in a poem about a man betrayed in love, contrasting the treeâs âfaithfulâ branches with the womanâs faithlessness. A few years later, the musician and composer Ernst AnschĂŒtz altered Zarnackâs poem, replacing the verses that told the tragic love story with musings on the tree teaching a lesson in constancy, with mention of its bringing pleasure at Christmas. The song was first published in 1824, and its spread around the world probably owed something to the growing popularity of Christmas trees in various countries during the 19th century. Although the German original only briefly references Christmas, metrical necessity caused English translators to use âO Christmas Treeâ, thus firmly establishing the songâs festive credentials for English-speakers.
The simple yet catchy tune no doubt also contributed to the success of âO Tannenbaumâ. Originally a folk melody, it became popular in the 18th century as a student drinking song, âLauriger Horatiusâ (âLaurel-crowned Horaceâ). It has also been used in many other contexts, perhaps most famously for the socialist anthem âThe Red Flagâ. For such a short and simple carol, âO Tannenbaumâ certainly has a wide-ranging cultural background and influence!
âShchedrykâ and âCarol of the Bellsâ
Chosen by Katie McElvanney, Curator Slavonic and East European Collections
Illustration of a swallow from BL Flickr. BL shelfmark 10201.e.12
Chances are youâve heard of âCarol of the Bellsâ, a Christmas favourite that has appeared in films, TV shows and adverts from Home Alone to The Muppets. What many donât know, however, is that the music was written by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych and is based on the Ukrainian folk chant âShchedrykâ. Dating back to pagan times, the original song tells the story of a swallow flying into a household to predict a prosperous New Year for the family. In pre-Christian Ukraine, the coming of the New Year and spring were celebrated in March but with the move to the Julian calendar, it shifted to 13 January (New Yearâs Eve), which is known in Ukrainian as Shchedry Vechir (Bountiful Evening).
Leontovychâs song premiered in Kyiv in December 1916 and was performed as part of the Ukrainian National Chorusâs US tour in the early 1920s. The American composer Peter J. Wilhousky subsequently rearranged the melody and wrote new lyrics around the theme of bells, which is the version we know today as âCarol of the Bellsâ.
You can listen to a recording of Leontovychâs âShchedrykâ here.
PastoraĆki (âPastoralsâ) by Tytus CzyĆŒewski
Chosen by Zuzanna Krzemien, Curator East European Collections
A baby Jesus jumping on his legs in a crib while wearing a highlanderâs hat. A shepherd, standing next to him, playing the bagpipes. A stork sitting on top of a nativity stable. Thatâs the kind of images you will find in PastoraĆki by Tytus CzyĆŒewski.
Cover of PastoraĆki by Tytus CzyzÌewski, design by Tadeusz Makowski (Paris, 1925) Ac.9664 Source: Polona
CzyĆŒewski (1880â1945) was a futurist poet, painter and co-founder of the Polish avant-garde âFormistâ group, whose aim was to create a new national style in art and literature by combining Futurism, Expressionism and Cubism with traditional folk art. CzyĆŒewskiâs volume of PastoraĆki [Pastorals], named after the genre of Polish Christmas carols with pastoral motifs, is an intersection of Polish folklore, medieval miracle plays and European avant-garde.
You can listen to a recording of one of these carols, âKolÄda w olbrzymim mieĆcieâ (âA Christmas Carol in a Big City) here.
The book is illustrated by Tadeusz Makowski (1882-1932), a Paris-based Polish artist. His primitivist woodcuts, inspired by folk iconography, reflect the atmosphere of friskiness and humour of CzyĆŒewskiâs pastorals.
Illustration from PastoraĆki by Tadeusz Makowski, showing shepherds playing highlander instruments to amuse the baby Jesus. Source: Polona
References:
Alicja Baluch, âWizualnoĆÄ poezji Tytusa CzyĆŒewskiegoâ, Rocznik naukowo-dydaktyczny 101 (1986), 199-137. Ac.9234.eb.
Czeslaw Milosz, The History of Polish Literature (Berkeley, 1983), 400-401. X.950/37574
Kazimierz Wyka, Rzecz wyobraĆșni (Warsaw, 1977)
âDe herdertjes lagen bij nachteâ (âThe Shepherds lay by Nightâ)
Chosen by Marja Kingma, Curator Germanic Collections
âDe herdertjes lagen bij nachteâ (âThe Shepherds lay by Nightâ) is a popular Dutch Christmas song. It is thought that it originated in the 17th century when children would sing it in the streets of Utrecht, but it was first written down in its current form by Joseph Albert Alberdingk Thijm and features in his collection of âOld and New Christmas Songsâ of 1852.
âDe herdertjes lagen bij nachteâ from Joseph Albert Alberdingk Thijm, Oude en nieuwere kerstliederen ⊠(Amsterdam, 1852). B.893.
The song has four verses, but usually only the first one, and sometimes the second one, are sung. Children stick to the first verse, and I cannot remember singing the others. The first verse tells how the shepherds were in the fields, having counted their sheep and then heard the angels sing, âclearly and fluentlyâ of the birth of Jesus upon which they went to Bethlehem to find him. In the second verse they see three beams of light shooting from above and from the crib â they âsee the lightâ and, in the third verse they decide to stay with the Holy Family until the New Year and leave their flock to the angels to look after. The final verse ends with a prayer for salvation.
The Angel appearing to the Shepherds, from a 15th-century Book of Hours Egerton MS 1070, f32v
Alberdingk Thijm was a devout Catholic and an influential figure in the 19th-century Catholic revival in the Netherlands (and also a supporter of the Flemish movement). His faith is reflected particularly in the third verse of the song with its emphasis on Mary and Josephâs responses, which I don't think would have been found so much in Protestant circles. The last line of the verse differs in Protestant and Catholic versions. The Protestant one has âand found the little child thereâ, and the catholic one âit was nearing the new yearâ, also suggesting that for some this was more of a New Yearâs rather than a Christmas song.
âDing Dong Merrily on Highâ
Chosen by Sophie Defrance, Curator Romance Collections
Although it might sound like a very old English Christmas Carol, âDing Dong Merrily on Highâ is the product of several nations â and centuries!
The tune first appeared in the 16th century as a French secular dance tune known under the title âBranle de l'Officialâ (the branle or brawl was a type of French dance danced by couples in either a line or a circle, and popular throughout Europe). It was recorded in OrchĂ©sographie, first published in 1589, and written by the French cleric, composer and writer Thoinot Arbeau, the anagrammatic pen name of French cleric Jehan Tabourot (1519â1593).
Page from Thoinot Arbeau, Orchésographie (Lengres, 1589). C.31.b.3. Image source: Library of Congress
The illustrated OrchĂ©sographie provides information on social ballroom behaviour and on the interaction of musicians and dancers. It contains woodcuts of dancers and musicians and includes instructions for the steps lined up next to the musical notes, an innovation in dance notation. The lyrics however are from English composer George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848â1934), and the carol was first published in 1924 in his The Cambridge Carol-Book: Being Fifty-two Songs for Christmas, Easter, And Other Seasons (E.1485.f.).