Angels We Have Heard on High

The French words. No one knows who wrote them. Their earliest known printing is in Noëls français et provençaux, a book of Christmas songs in French and Provençal. The copy at the University of Toronto has lost its title page, and a handwritten note inside its cover gives Marseille, the printer J. Mossy, the year 1805 and the name Roche ^[1][6]. Later editions from the same printer credit the book to "le R. P. Roche", Father Roche, a Recollect friar, and hymnologists think he may have gathered some of its songs rather than written them all ^[2][6]. On its pages 81 to 83 the carol is headed simply "NOEL" and set "sur l'air: Cherche-moi", to a tune the page does not print ^[1]. It opens "J'Entends, là sur ces collines, Les Anges descendus des Cieux", I hear, there on these hills, the angels come down from heaven, and it runs to twelve verses, the first ending "Gloria in excelsis Deo" and the rest "Gloria, etc." ^[1][6].

The tune, and the carol we know. In Paris in 1842 a book of church songs set to new tunes, Choix de cantiques sur des airs nouveaux, arranged for three or four voices with organ or piano by the Jesuit musician Louis Lambillotte, printed the carol as No. 3 ^[3][5][6]. Its title there is L'écho des montagnes de Béthléem, "The echo of the mountains of Bethlehem", "Noël languedocien", a Christmas song of Languedoc, and it gives the music as "Musique de W. M." ^[3][5]. Who W. M. was is not known ^[6]. It is the earliest known printing of the tune and of the opening "Les Anges, dans nos campagnes" ^[3][4].

Chadwick's English. James Chadwick, born in Drogheda, Ireland, in 1813, was a priest who taught at Ushaw College near Durham ^[12][13]. In 1860 Richardson and Son of London published The Holy Family Hymns, for the Society of the Holy Family, with Cardinal Wiseman's approval ^[7]. Its contents page credits No. 9, "Christmas Hymn", to "Rev. J. Chadwick" ^[7][11]. It begins "The Angels we have heard on high, Most sweetly singing o'er our plains", with an extra syllable at the start of each line, and its companion music book sets it to the French tune, adding a pickup note to carry that syllable ^[7][6]. Chadwick became a bishop in 1866 and died in 1882 ^[12][13].

The form we sing. In 1862 The Crown of Jesus, a Catholic prayer book printed in London, gave the hymn as "Angels we have heard on high, Sweetly singing o'er our plains", in shorter lines that fit the tune without the extra note ^[11][6][8]. The book names no editor (library catalogues give its compilers as R. R. Suffield and C. F. R. Palmer), and who reworked the hymn is not known; the reworking also changed the fourth verse ^[6][8][9]. Some hymnal handbooks credit the change to the Newcastle organist Henri Hemy, in a Crown of Jesus Music dated 1862, but Hemy's music for the book came out in 1864, two years after the words ^[17][10][6].

Myth and record. Often told: the refrain goes back to the year 129, when Pope Telesphorus ordered it sung at Christmas; or the carol is from eighteenth-century Languedoc ^[24][17]. What the record shows: a book of popes' lives, compiled some four hundred years after Telesphorus, credits him with night Masses at Christmas and the angels' hymn, Gloria in excelsis Deo, before the sacrifice ^[22][20]. Historians treat its early decrees as later customs, and that hymn is the Gloria of the Mass, not this carol ^[22][23]. No copy older than 1805 is known; "Languedoc" comes from the 1842 subtitle ^[1][6][3].

Chadwick's English is a free version of the French, not a translation: it keeps the angels, the mountains' echo, the questions to the shepherds, the call to Bethlehem and the manger, in four verses to the 1842 French's ten ^[7][3].

Verse 1. Angels have been heard singing over the plains, and the mountains answer with an echo. That echo is the French carol's own picture: "l'écho de nos montagnes", the echo of our mountains, sings the angels' song back ^[3][15].

Verse 2. The singer asks the shepherds what the celebration is for. A "jubilee" is a time of great public joy, and a "strain" is a song or a passage of a tune, so "why your rapturous strain prolong?" asks why their delighted singing goes on and on ^[27][28]. "Gladsome tidings" are glad news. The French asks the same: who is all this for, and what victory deserves such shouts? ^[3]

Verse 3. The answer is an invitation: come to Bethlehem, see the child the angels sing about, and kneel to worship Christ the Lord, the newborn king ^[15].

Verse 4. The child lies in a manger, praised by the angels; the singers ask Mary and Joseph to help them as they offer their love ^[15].

The French of 1842

These are the ten verses of Les anges dans nos campagnes as Choix de cantiques sur des airs nouveaux printed them in Paris in 1842, the first verse under the notes on page 8 and the rest on page 9 ^[3]. Spelling and punctuation are the print's, except four misprints we have corrected: "sous" for "sons" in verse 5, "Où" for "Ou" and "redirons" for "rediront" in verse 6, and "Au" for "An" in verse 10. Nine of these verses are in the 1805 book too, in close to the same words; it lacks the first, opening instead with "J'Entends, là sur ces collines", and has two more of its own ^[1]. Under each French line is our own plain English.

Verse 1

Les Anges, dans nos campagnes, The angels, in our countryside, Ont entonné l'Hymne des Cieux; have struck up the hymn of heaven, Et l'écho de nos montagnes and the echo of our mountains Redit ce chant mélodieux: sings this sweet song back: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest.

Verse 2

Bergers, pour qui cette fête? Shepherds, who is this celebration for? Quel est l'objet de tous ces chants? What are all these songs about? Quel vainqueur? quelle conquête? What victor? What conquest Mérite ces cris triomphants? deserves these shouts of triumph? Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest.

Verse 3

Ils annoncent la naissance They announce the birth Du libérateur d'Israël. of Israel's deliverer, Et pleins de reconnaissance. and, full of thanks, Chantent en ce jour solennel: they sing on this solemn day: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest.

Verse 4

Allons tous de compagnie Let us all go together Sous l'humble toit qu'il a choisi. under the humble roof he has chosen, Voir l'adorable Messie to see the Messiah, worthy of all worship, A qui nous chanterons aussi: to whom we too will sing: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest.

Verse 5

Cherchons tous l'heureux village Let us all look for the happy village Qui l'a vu naitre sous ses toits. that saw him born under its roofs. Offrons lui le tendre hommage Let us offer him the loving tribute Et de nos cœurs, et de nos voix. of our hearts and of our voices. Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest.

Verse 6

Dans l'humilité profonde In the deep humility Où vous paraissez à nos yeux. in which you appear before our eyes, Pour vous louer, Roi du monde, to praise you, King of the world, Nous redirons ce chant joyeux: we will sing this joyful song again: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest.

Verse 7

Toujours remplis du mystère Always filled with the mystery Qu'opère aujourd'hui votre amour, that your love works today, Notre devoir sur la terre our duty on earth Sera de chanter chaque jour, will be to sing every day: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest.

Verse 8

Déjà les bienheureux Anges, Already the blessed angels, Les chérubins, les séraphins the cherubim and the seraphim, Occupés de vos louanges, busy with your praises, Ont appris à dire aux humains: have learned to say to all people: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest.

Verse 9

Bergers, loin de vos retraites, Shepherds, far from your shelters, Unissez vous à leurs concerts, join in their music, Et que vos tendres musettes and let your gentle pipes Fassent retentir dans les airs: ring out through the air: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest.

Verse 10

Dociles à leur exemple, Following their example, Seigneur, nous viendrons désormais, Lord, from now on we will come Au milieu de votre temple, into the middle of your temple Chanter avec eux vos bienfaits. to sing with them of all you have given. Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest.

It is sung at Christmas, and its early printings set the Gloria apart from the verse. In the Paris book of 1842, marked "très doux", very soft, two upper voices sing the verse and the bass comes in only for the Gloria, sung twice ^[3]. The London book of 1860 marks the verse "Solo" and the Gloria "Chorus", and its preface explains how: a few singers who know the tune sing the verse, and the whole congregation answers ^[7].

The run is the same in the 1842, 1860 and 1916 printings: "Glo" starts on a long note and falls away in quick notes, five to a bar, each bar starting a step lower ^[3][7][15]. The French tune ends its second and fourth lines on A, a third above the home note F; the Boston book of 1916, like Chope's of 1875, brings those lines down to F, the shape many hymnals now print ^{[3][15][16][6]}. Its Gloria, sung once, is marked "Unison. ad lib." ^[15].

In hymnals the tune is called GLORIA, and its meter is 7.7.7.7 with the refrain ^[17][18]. Many hymnals print the harmony that Edward Shippen Barnes (1887 to 1958), an American organist, made for The New Church Hymnal of 1937, with the Gloria sung twice ^[6][17][19]. It takes over, note for note, the four-part harmony that Charles L. Hutchins (1838 to 1920) printed in Boston in 1891, in The Parish Choir, the weekly he edited, and in Carols Old and Carols New in 1916; Barnes added the second Gloria ^[6][14][15].

Our arrangement reads the tune and words from Carol 181 in Carols Old and Carols New, which prints it in four parts in F, and sings it a tone higher, in G: verses 1 to 3, each followed by the refrain once, as the book prints it ^[15]. The soprano sings that tune, and the alto, tenor and bass are our own, checked against the chords of the book's unsigned four-part setting, for 2 to 4 singers (soprano and alto, then bass, then tenor).

• Soprano: the tune, most often on B, then D. Each "Glo-" holds D, then runs down in quick notes, each bar a step lower, touching the top E just after it starts. Take the breath marked before it and pace it to the "ri-a", which drops to the low D.
• Alto: mostly a sixth below the tune. After a breath it leaps an octave, low B to top B, for each "Glo-", then holds one note a chord under the run. On "ri-a" it stays on F-sharp, above the tune's low D, the only place it crosses the tune.
• Tenor: the middle of the chord, mostly G, A and B, between F-sharp and D in the verses. Under each run it holds long notes, up to its top E, then D, B and A; "Deo." steps G, F-sharp down to the low D.
• Bass: the roots of the chords, mostly G, low and high, and D. Each verse climbs G, B, D from the low G to the high G at the end of its first line. Under the run it holds G, A, G, A, then D for "ri-a", and the last "o" lands on the low G.