"Angels We Have Heard on High" is a Christmas carol to the hymn tune "Gloria" from a traditional French song of unknown origin called "Template:Lang", with paraphrased English lyrics by James Chadwick. The song's subject is the birth of Jesus Christ as narrated in the Gospel of Luke, specifically the scene outside Bethlehem in which shepherds encounter a multitude of angels singing and praising the newborn child.
Tune[]
"Angels We Have Heard on High" is generally sung to the hymn tune "Gloria", a traditional French carol as arranged by Edward Shippen Barnes. Its most memorable feature is its chorus, "Gloria in excelsis Deo", where the "o" of "Gloria" is fluidly sustained through 16 notes of a rising and falling melismatic melodic sequence.
In England, the words of James Montgomery's "Angels from the Realms of Glory" are usually sung to this tune, with the "Gloria in excelsis Deo" refrain text replacing Montgomery's. It is from this usage that the tune sometimes is known as "Iris", the name of Montgomery's newspaper.[1]
Lyrics[]
Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this exaltation?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
Say what may the tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Come to Bethlehem and see him
For Whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Song Credits[]
Trad. Arr. Murray Cook, Jeff Fatt, Anthony Field, Greg Page (Wiggly Tunes)
Trivia[]
- The word traditional is not listed in the song credits of the Australian release of the Yule Be Wiggling album.
- The clip and the closing scene of the Yule Be Wiggling video were most likely filmed around the same time, due to all of the same people sitting in the same locations.
- The 2000 and 2017 versions play in D, but the 2011 version plays in G.
Appearances[]
Video Appearances[]
- Yule Be Wiggling
Album Appearances[]
- Yule Be Wiggling
- Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas (UK Special Edition)
- Christmas Classics
- ↑ "Angels from the Realms of Glory". Christmas-Carols.org.uk.