Sunday, December 25, 2005

Good Christian Men, Rejoice!

Good Christian men rejoice
With heart and soul and voice!
Give ye heed to what we say
News! News!
Jesus Christ is born today!
Ox and ass before Him bow
And He is in the manger now
Christ is born today!
Christ is born today!

Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice
Now ye hear of endless bliss
Joy! Joy!
Jesus Christ was born for this
He hath ope'd the heav'nly door
And man is blessed evermore
Christ was born for this
Christ was born for this

Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice
Now ye need not fear the grave:
Peace! Peace!
Jesus Christ was born to save
Calls you one and calls you all
To gain His everlasting hall
Christ was born to save
Christ was born to save


In dulci jubilo, nun singet und seid froh!
Unsres Herzens Wonne leit in praesepio
Und leuchtet als die Sonne matris in gremio.
Alpha es et O, Alpha es et O.

O Jesu parvule, nach dir ist mir so weh,
Tröst mir mein Gemüte, O puer optime,
Durch alle deine Güte, O princeps gloriae.
Trahe me post te! Trahe me post te!

Ubi sunt gaudia! Nirgend mehr denn da,
Da die Engel singen nova cantica
und die Schellen klingen in regis curia.
Eia, wärn wir da! Eia, wärn wir da!



Words: attributed to Heinrich Suso (ca. 1295-1366); freely trans­lat­ed/paraphrased from German/Latin macaronic to Eng­lish by John Mason Neale (1818-1866) in Car­ols for Christ­mas­tide (Lon­don: 1853)
Music: "In Dulci Jubilo," 14th Cen­tu­ry Ger­man mel­o­dy
Recording Sarah recommends: All the verses of this carol are included in a wonderful piece called Christmas Day by Gustav Holst. We sang it in the Christmas Gala last year, and I absolutely loved it. There's a good recording of the American Boys Choir doing the piece, which I recommend. (It's available on iTunes.)

2 comments:

  1. Sarah, thank you so much for posting these carols throughout Advent, and also for the excellent recommendations. It was wonderful.

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  2. The American Boychoir sang at my church this December :-) They were also here at Christmas time a few years ago.

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