Love came down at Christmas

Christina Rossetti, portrayed by her brother

Love Came Down at Christmas is a Christmas poem by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), from which the Christian poem In the Bleak Midwinter ("In the middle of the cold winter") comes.

It was first published untitled in Time Flies: A Reading Diary in 1885 and later included in the Verses collection (1893) under the title Christmastide .

It was attended by many composers as Christmas song set to music (Christmas carol), including Harold Darke , Leo Sowerby (1895-1968), John Kelsall , John Rutter and Reginald Owen Morris (1886-1948) and, among others, Stephen Cleobury arranged. It is also sung to the traditional Irish tune of Garton .

William Studwell describes the poem as simple, direct and sincere ("simple, direct and sincere") and notes that it is a rare example of a Carol who has overcome the disadvantage of "not having a tune (or two or three ) which has caught the imagination of holiday audiences ".

text

English	translation
Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love Divine; Love was born at Christmas, Star and Angels gave the sign. Worship we the Godhead, Love Incarnate, Love Divine; Worship we our Jesus: But wherewith for sacred sign? Love shall be our token, Love shall be yours and love be mine, Love to God and all men, Love for plea and gift and sign.	Love came for Christmas, love very lovely, divine love, love was born for Christmas, the star and angel gave the sign. We praise God, incarnate love, divine love, we worship our Jesus, but with what as a holy sign? Love should be our sign, love should be yours, and love be mine, love for God and all people, love for request and gift and sign.

Web links

Wikisource: Author: Christina_Rossetti  - Sources and full texts (English)

• Hymns and Carols of Christmas
• Setting with German translation (a) , (b)

Videos

• Sound example: (a) (RO Morris); (b) (John Rutter)

References and footnotes

1. ↑ The Lied and Art Song Texts Page ( Memento of the original from March 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ Hyperion Records
3. ↑ William Emmett Studwell : The Christmas Carol Reader , Haworth Press, 1995, p. 100 ( online excerpt ) - quoted from en.wikipedia, article: Love Came Down at Christmas ( author overview )
4. ↑ hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com