Winter Days Icicles Photography

It's been nice and warm these last few weeks but over the weekend it turned quite chilly.   We had a sprinkler valve freeze in the open position overnight --not good for the water bill-- but it sure made a lovely sight when we left for church on Sunday morning.  Don't see icicles like this in Florida very often!

Icicles

Icicles

Although it was a sunny day, just seeing the ice made me think of the old Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter.

Christmas Carols and Songs We Love : O Come, All Ye Faithful / Adestes Fideles

Note: I have several posts here related to Advent and Christmas. Just type ADVENT in the Search window above or click on the link to the right.

O Come, All Ye Faithful

a/k/a/ Adeste Fideles

Words:  John Francis Wade, 1745

Music:  Uncertain

Audio by Celtic Women at THIS LINK


Another by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at THIS LINK


This carol has an interesting history. The Latin version of this carol, ‘Adeste Fideles’, was written by John Francis Wade (1711-86), who fled England after the 1745 Jacobite rebellion to teach music in the school for British Roman Catholic exiles in Douai in France.  It was first published in 1760, and it has been suggested that it might have incidentally served as a coded rallying cry for the Stewart cause. The English translation was made by Frederick Oakley and William Brooke in 1841.  Many people think that Adeste Fideles is Spanish rather than Latin.  The original Latin text is here:

Adeste fideles læti triumphantes, Venite, venite in Bethlehem. Natum videte Regem angelorum. Venite adoremus (ter) Dominum. En grege relicto humiles ad cunas, Vocati pastores approperant, Et nos ovanti gradu festinemus. Venite adoremus (ter) Dominum. Æterni Parentis splendorem æternum, Velatum sub carne videbimus, Deum infantem pannis involutum. Venite adoremus (ter) Dominum. Pro nobis egenum et fœno cubantem Piis foveamus amplexibus ; Sic nos amantem quis non redamaret ? Venite adoremus (ter) Dominum.

I love to play and sing this carol as the music and words together give it a triumphal feeling that something wonderful has happened, which  of course, is the celebration of the birth of Jesus.  The more familiar lyrics which most churches sing are below:

O Come All Ye Faithful
,  Joyful and triumphant,


O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.


Come and behold Him,
Born the King of Angels;


REFRAIN

O come, let us adore Him,
 O come, let us adore Him,


O come, let us adore Him,
 Christ the Lord.



 Sing, choirs of angels, 
Sing in exultation,


Sing all ye citizens of heav’n above.


Glory to God in the Highest;


O come, let us adore Him,
 O come, let us adore Him,


O come, let us adore Him,
 Christ the Lord.



God of God, Light of Light

Lo, He abhors not the virgin’s womb

Very God, begotten not created

O come, let us adore Him,
 O come, let us adore Him,


O come, let us adore Him,
 Christ the Lord.



Yea, Lord, we greet Thee,
 Born this happy morning,


 Jesus to Thee be all glory giv’n.


Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;


O come, let us adore Him,
 O come, let us adore Him,


O come, let us adore Him,
 Christ the Lord.



Psalm  2:11 

Worship the LORD with reverence 

And rejoice with trembling. 

Christmas Carols and Songs We Love : The Christmas Song / Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Note:  Blogger is doing something strange with the texts again, but I'm not messing with it after what happened the last time...
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Note: I have several posts here related to Advent and Christmas. Just type ADVENT in the Search window above or click on the link to the right.


This is a familiar song which just about everyone loves, mainly because of its emphasis on family, warmth and the general coziness of the Christmas season.  Some people find this one a bit sad to listen to  due to various family circumstances, or memories of how things "used to be",  loved ones who have passed away or left the home, etc.  Much of the song is in a minor key which contributes to this feeling.  If this holiday season finds you a bit melancholy, try to remember that there is a Gift and a Person who came just for you and Who never changes...

Luke 2:10 - 11

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 

Malachi 3:6 

"For I, the LORD, do not change..."

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The Christmas Song

a/k/a Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

by Mel Torme and Bob Wells

The Christmas Song

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping at your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos. 

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight. 

They know that Santa's on his way;
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly. 

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although it's been said many times, many ways,
Merry Christmas to you. 

This LINK with the song recorded by Nat King Cole is an all-time favorite.

If  you've  never had "chestnuts roasted on an open fire", they really are delicious.  We tasted them for the first time at Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel.  At the entrance when you get off the monorail, there has been in the past a man standing there roasting them for people to taste. I honestly think that the man in this Google photo below is the same man that we have seen there roasting them.  :)

Christmas Carols and Songs We Love : Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

Note: I have several posts here related to Advent and Christmas. Just type ADVENT in the Search window above or click on the link to the right.

I was classically trained to play the piano so I will probably always have a preference for beautiful music, particularly in its original form.  This particular piece is often heard at Christmas and is a favorite at weddings.  Jesu is of course, Jesus.

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

by Johann Sebastian Bach, 1723

Original Version on piano  at THIS LINK.

Here is the song with vocals by Celtic Women.

One of Johann Sebastian Bach's most popular compositions is Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.  Originally composed for trumpet, oboe, strings and organ, it is perhaps best known in a piano arrangement by Dame Myra Hess (1890-1965).  This Bach piece is a 3-minute extract [Movement #10, Chorale: Jesus bleibet meine Freude, more accurately translated Jesus shall remain my gladness]  from a thirty-minute cantata which was originally written for the 4th Sunday of Advent.  That cantata is just one of over 200 that survived. Those 200 cantatas form only a fifth of Bach's works. And those thousand-odd works are only a fraction of what survived.  

SOURCE

English Lyrics

Jesu, joy of man's desiring,

Holy wisdom, love most bright;

Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring

Soar to uncreated light.

Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,

With the fire of life impassioned,

Striving still to truth unknown, 

Soaring, dying round Thy throne. 

Through the way where hope is guiding, 

Hark, what peaceful music rings; 

Where the flock, in Thee confiding, 

Drink of joy from deathless springs. 

Theirs is beauty's fairest pleasure; 

Theirs is wisdom's holiest treasure. 

Thou dost ever lead Thine own

In the love of joys unknown.

A little bit about the composer, Johann Sebastian Bach:

Bach said, "Music's only purpose should be the glory of God and the recreation of the human spirit." Music was given to glorify God in heaven and to edify men and women on earth. It wasn't to make lots of money, or to feed the musician's ego, or to be famous. Music was about blessing the Lord and blessing others.

Bach's own life was in complete accord with his beliefs. Though he possessed a musical genius found perhaps once in a century, he chose to live an obscure life as a church musician. Only once in his 65 years did he actually take a job where his brilliance might bring him to the world's notice. For a while, he worked as Kapellmeister of the court of Prince Leopold. But such surroundings were a distraction to him. He soon left to accept a lowly position as cantor at a church in Leipzig, where he would again be cloistered in his unacclaimed but beloved world of church music.  SOURCE

Psalm 33:3 

Sing to Him a new song; 

Play skillfully with a shout of joy. 

1 Peter 5:6 

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, 

that He may exalt you at the proper time...

Christmas Carols and Songs We Love : Carol of the Bells

Note: I have several posts here related to Advent and Christmas. Just type ADVENT in the Search window above or click on the link to the right.

I so enjoy playing this contemporary Christmas song on the piano each Christmas season.  I'm a bit biased but to me it sounds best with just the piano although there are other versions with a more electric accompaniment.   I don't think that I have ever heard the lyrics but they are also posted below for you.

Carol of the Bells [click on the link to hear the George Winston version of this piece] was composed by Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych (1877-1921) in 1916. Originally titled Shchedryk, this Ukranian folk song is

based on an old Slavic legend that every bell in the world rang in honour of Jesus on the night of His birth

. It was first performed in the Ukraine on the night of January 13, 1916, on the Julian calendar this is considered New Year's Eve. In the United States the song was first performed on October 5, 1921 at Carnegie Hall.

More info on this piece is at  THIS LINK.

Carol Of The Bells

Hark! how the bells

Sweet silver bells

All seem to say,

"Throw cares away."

Christmas is here

Bringing good cheer

To young and old

Meek and the bold

Ding, dong, ding, dong

That is their song

With joyful ring

All caroling

One seems to hear

Words of good cheer

From ev'rywhere

Filling the air

Oh how they pound,

Raising the sound,

O'er hill and dale,

Telling their tale,

Gaily they ring

While people sing

Songs of good cheer

Christmas is here

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas

On, on they send

On without end

Their joyful tone

To ev'ry home

Ding, dong, ding, dong.