Christmas Song Story: Mary’s Boy Child

“Mary’s Boy Child” is a Christmas song written by Jester Hariston in 1956. According to Wikipedia, a friend asked Hairston to write a song for a birthday party.  Hairston wrote the song with a calypson rhythm “because the people at the party would be mainly West Indians. The song’s original title was “He Pone and Chocolate Tea”, pone being a […]

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Christmas Song Story: Jesus, the Light of the World

“Jesus, the Light of the World” was arranged by George D. Elderkin. It was first published with a collection of Christmas Carols in 1890 in “Gift of Finest Wheat”. He seems to have arranged this composition from Charles Wesley’s hymn “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.”  Elderkin’s arrangement drew upon the first two lines of Wesley’s hymns in stanzas 1, 2, […]

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Christmas Hymn Story: In the Bleak Mid-Winter

English poet Christina Rosetti published a poem under the title “A Christmas Carol” in January 1872 issue of Scribner’s Monthly. Composer Gustav Holst composed a setting to her words in 1906. The new hymn appeared in The English Hymnal under the title “In the Bleak Midwinter”. In 1909, Harold Darke composed an anthem for the piece, which is widely performed […]

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Christmas Song Story: Christmas Canon

Christmas Canon is set to Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. Paul O’Neill provided lyrics to Pachelbel’s music. The song is performed by Trans-Siberian Orchestra and a departure from their normal rock arrangements. The group is accompanied by a children’s choir and was released on the 1998 album The Christmas Attic. As on 2016, the song ranked 7th among the all-time […]

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!! Here are a few pictures and a video to help you enjoy the holiday.  While we enjoy the fun part of Christmas, let’s never forget the true reason for the season.  The birth of Jesus Christ.  He was born, so that he could die for our sins and offer us eternal life with him.         […]

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Behind the Song: O Holy Night

In 1847, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure was most likely shocked when the parish priest asked him to write a poem for Christmas Mass. De Roquemaure was the commissioner of wines in a small French town and well known for his poetry.  He was an unlikely person for the priest to ask to write this poem, in the fact that he was […]

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Behind the Song: Ave Maria

Franz Schubert composed the popular Catholic hymn in 1825, as part of his Opus 52.  He titled the song “Ellens dritter Gesang” or Ellen’s Third Song. Philip Adam Storck translated and published the poem Lady of the Lake into German in 1819.  This was the inspiration for Schubert’s work. The song was composed as a setting for Sir Walter Scott’s […]

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