Adeste fideles
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Adeste fideles is a Christmas carol . The cantio has been handed down since the middle of the 18th century. The popular German version is Herbei, o ye Believer (written in 1823 by Friedrich Heinrich Ranke ); in Catholic church chant today is the version Now rejoice, you Christians in common, occasionally also with the initium Auf, believing souls . The best known English version is O Come All Ye Faithful .
history
melody
The origin of the melody is not clear and there are many different and contradicting statements in song books. The oldest evidence can be found in the manuscripts of John Francis Wade (1711–1786), an Englishman who went into exile in Douai in France after the second Jacobite revolt in 1745 because of his Catholic faith . At the Catholic college there, he was mainly employed as a copyist of liturgical books and as a music teacher.
Wade had recorded the text and melody of the song in five of his manuscripts, the oldest of them from 1751, and one undated, which may have been written as early as 1743. Whether or not Wade was also the composer of the melody, as John Stéphan claims in his study of the song, cannot be conclusively clarified, just as the templates on which Wade may have based the composition. There are no doubt similarities with an Air Anglois from the Opéra comique Acajou (1745) by Charles-Simon Favart . However, it is not possible to say with certainty whether this aria served as a melody model for Adeste fideles or vice versa, or whether the similarity is only accidental.
The claim that the song was already composed in 1680 by the organist John Reading (1645-1692) goes back to a memory of the music publisher Vincent Novello (1781-1861), who wrote the song over a hundred years later in his time as the organist of the band the Portuguese embassy in London. However, there is no further evidence to support this claim. Likewise, there is no evidence to support the claim that the melody is of Portuguese origin. Rather, it seems that the designation as "Portuguese chorale" Vinde adoremus derives from the very use at the Portuguese embassy that Novello reported. Possibly this use goes back directly to John Francis Wade, since one of his copies was intended for the English college in Lisbon. Speculations that the work could have been composed by Marcos António Portugal (1762-1830) or even by the Portuguese King John IV are therefore irrelevant.
The melody first appeared in print in 1782 in the Essay or Instruction for Learning the Church Plain Chant edited by Samuel Webbe . The melody that John Francis Wade had notated in 3 time appears here for the first time in 2/2 time, i.e. in the version known today.
Different traditions of text transmission
Seven different stanzas of the Latin text have survived in the oldest sources (an eighth stanza only appeared from the middle of the 19th century and is probably a more recent addition). However, there are two different lines of tradition, each with a four-stanza version, which agree in the first stanza but differ in the three following stanzas. All seven stanzas appear together for the first time in Paris in 1827 in the Paroissien complet . If one compares the two groups of stanzas with regard to their form, one finds that in one group of traditions the number of syllables (6 - 6 - 10 - 5 - 6 - 10) of the rhythmic verses completely match. In the other group of traditions, on the other hand, the number of syllables of the heterogeneous stanzas varies by up to two syllables, and word stress and accented verse often do not coincide. In terms of their main distribution areas, the two traditions can be described as the English and French tradition.
The tradition with the poetically heterogeneous stanzas goes back to John Francis Wade and can be found mainly in English sources. It remains to be seen whether Wade wrote the text himself or just copied a found text. It is conceivable, however, that the first stanza is older and the additional stanzas go back to Wade.
The poetically more uniform group of stanzas, on the other hand, is primarily found in French sources and is associated with the name of the Abbé and later Bishop of Versailles Étienne-Jean-François Borderies . Borderies has included Adeste fideles in the liturgical books of his diocese for the Christmas liturgy that he has recently published, but has not counted it among his liturgical creations. The claim that Borderies could be the author of the text was made by its biographer Félix Dupanloup , but is probably wrong.
Translations
A large number of translations exist in the English-speaking world. The version O Come All Ye Faithful by Frederick Oakeley, which was first published in Murray's Hymnal in 1852 , is particularly widespread .
In German-language church hymn books, the separation of the Latin text according to the English and French tradition continues. The song is distributed in the Protestant area, currently in the Protestant hymn book under number 45, in the version Herbei, o ihr Faub'gen , which was written by Friedrich Heinrich Ranke in 1823 as a copy of John Francis Wade's text version.
In the Catholic area, on the other hand, the translation prevailed on the basis of the French tradition, which Joseph Hermann Mohr published in his hymn book Cäcilia in 1873 under the title Auf, believing souls ; however, the opening verse is mostly changed to Now Rejoice, You Christians . In the old praise of God from 1975, however, a mixed version was printed under number 143 without naming the translator, since Mohr's fourth stanza was omitted and the third stanza by Ranke was inserted instead. In the new Praise to God , which was introduced on the 1st Sunday in Advent 2013, Mohr's text is printed under number 241 with its original four stanzas, only the first line has been changed. The Latin version in the four-verse version of the French tradition can now be found under the number 242 in the Praise of God.
text
Text according to the English tradition
| Adeste Fideles | translation | O come, all ye faithful | Come here, O you believers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text after John Francis Wade | English by Frederick Oakeley | German by Friedrich Heinrich Ranke | |
|
Adeste fideles |
Come, believers, |
O come, all ye faithful, |
Come here, O you believers, |
The introductory stanza with the invitation to the faithful to come to Bethlehem and worship the newborn "King of Angels", which is common to both textual traditions, is followed by stanzas in the English tradition that quote several sentences from the Nicene-Constantinopolitanum and the child in describe the crib from the point of view of dogmatics , so to speak . This is followed by an invitation to the Angels, the child Gloria singing, and a quote from John's prologue . Although all statements in the text are theologically correct, the impression arises of a mixture of statements that are not in any inner context and also not conclusively lead to the refrain "venite adoremus". "The English version is not a masterpiece - neither poetic nor theological" ( Hansjakob Becker ).
In the adaptations by Frederick Oakeley and Friedrich Heinrich Ranke, phrases that are difficult to understand have been replaced by more common quotations from the Credo and the Te Deum .
Text according to the French tradition
| Adeste Fideles | translation | Now rejoice, you Christians |
|---|---|---|
| Attributed to Jean François Borderies | German after Joseph Hermann Mohr | |
|
Adeste fideles |
Come, believers, |
Now rejoice, you Christians, |
In the French text tradition, the invitation to the faithful is developed consistently: the shepherds are given as models for going to the manger; the paradox of God's incarnation and his love for mankind recognizable from it is supposed to lead the believers to their answer through adoration. Joseph Hermann Mohr's adaptation faithfully reproduces this Latin text. Unlike all models, he uses the stylistic device of rhyme (lines 1 and 3 of his stanzas).
reception
The song is one of the most popular Christmas carols and is not missing in any German church hymn book. The song is also widespread in pop music and can be found on the Christmas albums of many musicians such as Bob Dylan , Bing Crosby , Celine Dion , Frank Sinatra , Nat King Cole , Mahalia Jackson , Elvis Presley , Mariah Carey or Andrea Bocelli .
Choral parts of the song, which in the German-speaking area are mostly based on Ranke's text Herbei, o ihr Faith'gen , created a. a. Friedrich Silcher and Carl Thiel . In the English-speaking world, choral versions of the text O Come, All Ye Faithful are most common; a well-known version is by David Willcocks .
literature
- Hansjakob Becker : Up, believing souls. In: ders. Et al. (Ed.): Geistliches Wunderhorn. 2nd Edition. Ch. H. Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-48094-2 , pp. 437-444.
- Ansgar Franz , Hermann Kurzke , Christiane Schäfer (eds.): The songs of God's praise. History - liturgy - culture . Katholisches Bibelwerk GmbH, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-460-42900-0 , p. 832-836 .
- Ulrich Parent, Martin Rößler : 45 - Come here, o you believers . In: Gerhard Hahn , Jürgen Henkys (Hrsg.): Liederkunde zum Evangelisches Gesangbuch . No. 11 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-525-50334-2 , pp. 17–21 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- Dom John Stéphan: The Adeste Fideles. A Study on its Origin and Development . Publications Buckfast Abbey, South Devon 1947 ( online version ).
- Bennett Zon: The origin of Adeste fideles. In: Early Music 24 (1996), pp. 279-288, doi: 10.1093 / earlyj / XXIV.2.279 ( preview ).
Web links
- Adeste Fideles : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Sheet music in the public domain by Adeste fideles in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)
- Adeste, fideles in the song project of SWR2 and Carus-Verlag
- Come here, o you believers in the song project of SWR2 and Carus-Verlag
- Latin, German, English and Italian text
Individual evidence
- ↑ Summary of hymnological research article (English)
- ↑ Latin verse song, cf. Jaromír Černy: Cantio. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, factual part, volume 2 (Bolero - Encyclopedie). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1995, ISBN 3-7618-1103-9 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
- ^ Roman Catholic praise for God , old Catholic attunement
- ↑ ZB prayer and hymn book for the Archdiocese of Cologne. Cologne 1949, No. 151; Laudation. Prayer book and hymn book for the diocese of Münster. Münster 1971, no.347.
- ↑ a b c Dom John Stéphan: The Adeste Fideles. A Study on its Origin and Development . Publications Buckfast Abbey, South Devon 1947 ( online version ).
- ↑ a b c Hansjakob Becker : Up, believing souls. In: ders. Et al. (Ed.): Geistliches Wunderhorn. 2nd Edition. Ch. H. Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-48094-2 , pp. 437-444.
- ^ Joseph Mohr: Cäcilia. Catholic hymn and prayer book. 5th edition. Pustet, Regensburg 1874, p. 8 f. ( Digitized version ).
- ↑ Bishops of Germany and Austria and the dioceses of Bozen-Brixen and Lüttich: Gotteslob , Catholic prayer and song book, edition for the Archdiocese of Cologne, Cologne 1975, p. 217.
- ↑ a b Praise to God . Catholic prayer and hymn book. Edition for the Diocese of Limburg. Catholic Bible Institute, Stuttgart / Lahn-Verlag, Limburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-7840-0200-2 , p. 334.
- ↑ Praise to God No. 217–351
- ↑ Version EG 45
- ↑ Ps 94.6 VUL
- ↑ a b Great Creed
- ↑ Joh 1,14 VUL
- ↑ Latin cheer
- ↑ Te Deum
- ↑ Bob Dylan: LP Christmas In The Heart . Santa Monica (USA) 2009. Page A, No. 8
- ↑ Friedrich Silcher: Here, o you believers , Carus-Verlag
- ↑ Notes in the public domain by Adeste fideles (Carl Thiel) in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)