The lights are on on the Christmas tree

Christmas tree with candles

The lights burn on the Christmas tree is a German Christmas carol with a text by Hermann Kletke published in 1841 .

history

The lyricist Hermann Kletke published the text for this song in his Phantasus collection in 1841 . A children's book under the title Christmas Saying .

The melody ^{? / i was} already a few years earlier in Meiningen in Thuringia on the text "The youth is beautiful in happy times", as well as in Saxony on the text "Roses bloom, carnations bloom", and is dated to the time around 1830; however, the exact time of origin and the composer are not known. It is also sung, especially in free churches and in the community movement , with the text God is love, lets me redeem by August Rische .

content

Christmas 1892

Following a development of Christmas carols in the early 19th century after secularization, the historical content of Christmas , the birth of Jesus , is not even mentioned in the song text. Instead, the author focuses on describing the mood of celebrating Christmas in its day. The whole family, young and old, is gathered around the festively decorated and candle-lit Christmas tree . Invisible and inaudible, two angels bring God's blessing to “good people who love one another”.

A Christmas carol was dedicated to the Christmas tree for the first time in 1824, 17 years before this song was written, with O Tannenbaum . There, as here, the tree is called a symbol of hope. While O Tannenbaum refers to the evergreen "leaves" of the Christmas tree, the lights on the Christmas tree sang the decorated tree in the glow of lights. The candle-lit Christmas tree custom was not yet widespread in the first half of the 19th century when the song was written, and only wealthy families could afford such a tree.

text

Text printed in 1841

Christmas

saying The lights are burning on the Christmas tree,
How it shines festively, sweetly and mildly,
As if it were talking: I want to recognize
faithful hope in me, still image.

The children stand with bright eyes,
the eye laughs, the heart laughs;
O happy, happy delight!
The old look skyward.

Two angels have come in,
no eye has seen them coming,
they go to the Christmas table and pray,
and turn again and go:

“Blessed are you old people,
blessed be you little crowd!
We bring God's blessings today
to both brown and white hair.

To good people who love each other,
the Lord sends us as messengers,
And you have remained loyal and pious,
We step back into this house! ”-

No ear has heard her saying,
Invisible every person's gaze,
They went how come, but
God's blessing remained!

variants

To join two notes on a syllable such as B. to avoid “tree”, “want”, “stand” etc., these are replaced by two syllables in some versions, e.g. B. "-baume", "do you want", "stand" etc.

grades

literature

• Ernst Klusen (Ed.): German songs . 2nd Edition. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-458-04827-8 , p. 815, 857 .
• Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann : The book of Christmas carols . 151 German Advent and Christmas carols. 12th edition. Schott, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-254-08213-8 , pp. 257 f .
• We sing the most beautiful Christmas carols . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2008, ISBN 978-3-451-30097-4 , p. 20, 60 .

Web links

Commons : Burning the lights on the Christmas tree  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikibooks: Burning the lights on the Christmas tree  - learning and teaching materials

• The lights are on on the Christmas tree. Sung by the double quartet of the Berliner Lehrer-Gesang-Verein. In: www.ingeb.org. Retrieved on November 29, 2011 (text in German and English, melody as a midi file, vocals as an mp3 file). 
• The lights are on on the Christmas tree. In: song project by Carus-Verlag and SWR2. Retrieved July 30, 2015 . 
• The lights are on on the Christmas tree. In: Alojado songs archive. Retrieved July 29, 2015 (text and sheet music, melody as midi file). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Hermann Kletke: Phantasus . A children's book. Carl J. Klemann, Berlin 1841, p. 10–11 ( digitized in the Google book search).
2. ↑ ^{a b} Weber-Kellermann 2008, p. 258
3. ↑ ^{a b} Klusen German songs , p. 857
4. ↑ ^{a b} We sing the most beautiful Christmas carols , p. 60
5. ↑ Theo Mang, Sunhilt Mang (ed.): Der Liederquell . Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2007, ISBN 978-3-7959-0850-8 , pp. 978-979 .
6. ↑ Small Mission Harp , 52nd edition, 1892
7. ↑ Gerhard Blail: O you happy . The story of our most beautiful Christmas carols. 1st edition. Quell Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-7918-2801-0 , p. 10 .
8. ↑ We sing the most beautiful Christmas carols , p. 62