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…
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…
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…
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…
Christmas Song Story: Rise Up Shepherd and Foller
The song originated as a spiritual The text was first published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in January 1891. The song appears in the middle of a story by Ruth McEnery Stuart and takes place at a place…
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…
Behind the Christmas Carol: Angels We Have Heard on High
Angels We Have Heard on High commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Luke. The song focuses on the shepherds encounter with the angels foretelling of the birth of the newborn…
Behind the Christmas Carol: Go Tell It on the Mountain
African Americans have a rich musical history through the use of passing down stories in the guise of a song. These songs are called spirituals and the slaves often sung them in the fields, while…
Behind the Christmas Song: The Birthday of the King
This is a beautiful Christmas song that Daddy and I performed together many times. The lyrics and music were written by William H. Neidlinger in 1890. No other information is known about this beautiful Christmas…
Behind the Christmas Carol: O Little Town of Bethlehem
Imagine traveling to the Holy Land and being inspired by the places where Jesus was born, walked, died and rose from the grave. To ride by horseback out to the fields where the shepherds attended…
Behind the Christmas Carol: Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
The hymn we sing today as Hark! The Herald Angels Sing has had many alterations since it originated. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing first appeared in the 1739 Hymns and Sacred Poems. This is one…
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…
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…