This is a proper Advent hymn and we sang this at church on the first Sunday of Advent. I have to say it seemed odd to be singing about Israel with all the horrors going on there, does anyone on either side care?
This version just says it's by a traditional choir.
Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel was probably written in the early C18. But it's origins are much earlier. From a series of verses or prayers called antiphons known as ' the seven 'O's' from way back in the Middle Ages. These were sung in medieval monasteries.
The words were translated from the Latin by John Mason Neale, one of the best known translators between 1818 -66. The tune is much older possibly from a plainsong chant.
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Sue
I love singing "O Come" and realising that centuries ago the nuns were singing it in their cloisters. Yes, it is sad to sing about Israel right now.
ReplyDeleteThe situation is desperate there for so many people . No one seems able to help
DeleteI remember practising that in a cold church before Christmas when I was at the convent. As I could not sing but normally mouthed the words, it still fills me with dread.
ReplyDeleteOh goodness, so sorry to have brought back memories of dread!
DeleteThe sort of tune I love to hear, but hate to sing - I'm never quite sure where the tune is going next!
ReplyDeleteIt goes up and down and along in a beautiful way
DeleteThe way Christmas carols are played, I don't think many people realise that Advent and Christmas are two different seasons. As you rightly say, this is an Advent hymn. I love the tune, but it isn't easy to sing.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many Christmas carols that it would be a shame not to sing them - I guess that's why they are sung and played more than just for actual Christmas Day
DeleteI like to listen to this Advent hymn but find it difficult to follow the tuneif I am singing it. Catriona
ReplyDeleteI think I've sung it a lot over the years - no longer difficult
DeleteThe tune really does evoke the middle ages. Like the Coventry Carol, it sounds a bit strange to modern ears, which makes it slightly unsettling and all the more wonderful and mysterious.
ReplyDeleteI like it - a little bit different to the more well known
DeleteSo interesting some people find it difficult to sing. Because it's in a minor key perhaps? I learned to sing it along with the other O antiphons as a shaped note song as a child in Catholic school and always loved its mounfulness and wistfullness.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy singing it and don't find it difficult - must have sung it many times in Baptist chapel, Methodist church and now URC
DeleteYour comment on Johns blog today “I hate being a widow’ was just how I was feeling yesterday. My husband of 35 years died in late November 2019, and I have just got on with it most of the time but yesterday was different, I cried and slept most of the day. Before he died, I never cried, never. I guess I just realized “I hate being a widow too. Gigi in Toronto
ReplyDeleteSo sorry you had a sad day yesterday.. This is my 6th Christmas alone.
DeleteAlthough I didn't say "I hate being a widow" - I actually said "I don't want to be a widow" and that was because John had said he didn't want to be a nurse today.
Hate is a very strong word that I try not to use nowadays.
Wise words about the use of the word hate.
DeleteI remember that once I set up a women's advent meditation retreat. It was set up around this hymn. By the end of it we were heartily sick of the song.
ReplyDeleteI love it because it really does bring to mind old stone monasteries and monks/nuns singing.
Oh dear, sorry you got totally fed up with the hymn.
DeleteI remember the tradition of singing all of these songs when I was still religious and attended church. Now that I am not, I don't hear them often. This was a lovely song.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you need to be religious to go to church and sing hymns!
DeleteI really do like that Hymn but singing about Israel at the moment fills me with sadness and fear for the people on both sides.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree . So many have already died and still it continues
DeleteI've sung this at church and it is lovely. World leaders are failing. The death and destruction of war seems to have no bounds with no end in sight.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how it will end - and the same for Ukraine. Very sad
DeleteWe actually sang this last Sunday at Mass. One of my favourite Advent hymns.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
This is one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing this.
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