Rebel to Redeemed…Sharing HIS Kind of Love
“Good King Wenceslas” tells the story of a Bohemian king who goes on a journey, braving harsh winter weather, to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen (December 26, the Second Day of Christmas). During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by […]
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Star of the East was originally named “Stern über Bethlehem”. In 1883, composer Amanda Kennedy composed a melody “Star of the Sea”. George Cooper, a New York lyricists, wrote the lyrics in 1890. The song is not the same as the folk carol “Star in the East” or English carol “Star of the East”. Judy Garland recorded the song in 1941.
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Shepherds Arise! Be Not Afraid is first recorded by a church in Dorset England. The carol dates back to the 19th century. The carol was first published in the 1926 A Collection of Dorset Carols. The book was published by William Adair Pickard-Cambridge, a classics scholar and organists, who obtained several manuscripts from the early 19th Century. The author of Shepherd’s Arise in unknown and was […]
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The carol originally appeared as a poem written by Cecil Frances Alexander. The poem was first published in the 1848 Hymns for Little Children. The poem tells the story of the nativity and was combined in a collection with other well-known hymns such as “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and “There is a Green Hill Far Away”. The following year, Henry […]
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In the Bleak Midwinter is based on a poem by Christina Rossetti, an English poet. The poem was published in the January 1872 issue of Scribner’s Monthly under the title “A Christmas Carol”. The 1906 English Hymnal first published the poem set to music by Gustav Holst. In 1911, Harold Darke wrote a more complex anthem which is often used […]
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John Rutter, an English composer and conductor, wrote Candlelight Carol in 1984. He recorded the song with his own group, the Cambridge Singers. The group released the song on their 1987 album Christmas Night. The song was commissioned by a church in Pennsylvania celebrating the Virgin Mary. Rutter is said to draw inspiration from the Geertgen’s painting, Nativity at Night. […]
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