O Kerstnacht, schooner dan de dagen

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O Kerstnacht, saver dan de dagen (O Christmas night, purer than the day!) Is a Dutch hymn , which mostly as Christmas song is called, but not on the birth of Jesus, but to the massacre of the innocents relates. The poet and playwright Joost van den Vondel wrote the stage work “Gijsbrecht van Aemstel” for the opening of the “Schouwburg van Van Campen” theater in Amsterdam , which premiered around Christmas 1637. It contains this song as a dance.

Following the example of Greek choral singing , Vondel concluded the elevators with spoken or sung lyrical reflections that are detached from the actual plot. The third act ends with this “Rey van Clarissen” (dance of the Poor Clares ) sung by nuns . ( Gijsbrecht , vs. 904 - 950)

The round dance later led its own existence as a hymn in the Christmas environment.
In 1644 it was included in the "Livre Septième".

It is not clear who the composer of the melody and the polyphonic movement was, they were alternately attributed to Cornelis Padbrué or Dirk Janszoon Sweelinck .

Even in the 20th century there were arrangements of the song, including a movement for four-part community choir by Gaston Feremans and an arrangement by the Dutch church musician Jan van Biezen . Because he did not appreciate the common version - he found the octave jump on "Kerstnacht" inappropriate - he wrote a new version of the melody for the "Liedboek voor de Kerken", 1973.

In Germany, the song gained a certain degree of popularity through the progressive rock band Focus , which in 1974 integrated the first two verses of the song into their Hamburg Concerto .

The text of the first three stanzas - reproduced here in the original spelling of Joost van den Vondels - reads:

O Kersnacht, schooner dan de daegen!
Hoe kan Herod 't deny light, that
twinkles in uw duisternisse?
In a word quartered en aengebeden!
Zijn hooghmoed luistert na geen talk,
hoe schel that rattles in zijn ooren.

Hy pooght d'onnoosle te vernielen
door 't moorden van onnoosle aim!
En werckt een stad en landgeschrey,
In Bethlehem en op den farmland.
En maeckt the geest van Rachel wacker, they
would be gaet door beemd en wey,

dan na het west, dan na'et oosten.
How do the droeve moeder comfort
nu zy haer love children derft?
Nu zy die ziet in 't bloed versmooren,
aleerze naulix zijn born,
en zoo veel zwaerden rood geverft!

O Christmas Eve, purer than the days!
How can Herod endure the light that
shines in your darkness?
That is celebrated and worshiped!
His arrogance doesn't stop there, no matter
how shrill they sound in his ears.

He tries to destroy the innocent
by killing innocent souls!
With it he causes weeping in town and country,
in Bethlehem and in the field.
He awakens the spirit of Rachel ,
who wanders through the fields and meadows,

now to the west, now to the east.
Who should comfort the sad mother
now that she is without her beloved children?
Now that she sees those
who are just born suffocated in blood
and so many swords are dyed red!

5 of the 8 stanzas were included in the “Liedboek voor de Kerken”.
The rule: "Wat kan de blinde staatzucht brouwen wanneer ze raast uit misvertrouwen" (What can blind lust for power cause when it rages with mistrust) from the 7th stanza is regularly quoted in Dutch to describe tyranny and brutal politics.

Web links

Commons : O Kerstnacht, schoner dan de dagen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see the Dutch Wikipedia page: Schouwburg van Van Campen
  2. ↑ see the Dutch Wikipedia page: Gijsbrecht van Aemstel
  3. ^ Nederlandse liederenbank .
    There are Dutch Wikipedia pages for both composers: Cornelis Padbrué and Dirk Janszoon Sweelinck
  4. ↑ written 1934 [ Gaston Feremans herdacht (Antwerp: Gaston Feremans-Huldecomité, 1966), p. 169]; published in the Zes oude Kerstliederen collection (Antwerp: Metropolis, 1957), see also the Dutch Wikipedia page: Gaston Feremans .
  5. ↑ see the Dutch Wikipedia page: Liedboek voor de Kerken
  6. ↑ Vondel wrote 'Kersnacht' (without the first 't') instead of 'Kerstnacht'
  7. ↑ literal: "your" (politeness)