Thursday, 24 December 2015

O, Holy Night.


File:Bouguereau The Virgin With Angels.jpg

Title: "The Virgin With Angels".
Artist: William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905).
Date: 1900.
Current location: Petit Palais, Paris, France.
Source/Photographer: Art Renewal Center image.
Copied from the English Wikipedia to Commons.
Author: William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905).
(Wikimedia Commons)



"O, Holy Night."
Sung by Celine Dion.
Available on YouTube at


The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

"O Holy Night" ("Cantique de Noël") is a well-known Christmas Carol, composed by Adolphe Adam, in 1847, to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" (Midnight, Christians), by a wine merchant and poet, Placide Cappeau (1808–1877).

In Roquemaure, France, at the end of 1843, the Church Organ was renovated. To celebrate the event, the Parish Priest asked Cappeau, a native of Roquemaure, to write a Christmas poem. Cappeau did it, although being a professed Anti-Cleric and Atheist.

Soon after, Adam wrote the music. The Carol was premiered in Roquemaure, in 1847, by the Opera Singer Emily Laurey.

Unitarian Minister John Sullivan Dwight, Editor of "Dwight's Journal of Music", created a singing edition, based on Cappeau's French Text, in 1855. In both the French original, and in the two familiar English versions of the Carol, the Text reflects on The Birth of Jesus and of Humanity's Redemption.

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2 comments:

  1. ALDUThursday, 24 December, 2015

    Having visited and admired this blog over many months, I apologise now for criticising this post but this version of this Carol is very disappointing. The Celine Dion version has been made into a sort of pop song. For a more appropriate version please listen to the King's College Cambridge Choir at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYyhLkQV6no

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  2. ZephyrinusThursday, 24 December, 2015

    Thank you for your valued Comment, ALDU. It is, indeed, a well-thought-out opinion and one which I do not, in any way, take issue with.

    The main aim of including Celine Dion's version of O Holy Night was to underscore the profundity and Holiness of this forthcoming night. I feel this was achieved by her version.

    I have listened to your excellent suggestion of The King's College Cambridge Choir's version and I must agree with you. It is an excellent rendition and one that I am happy to endorse to all Readers. Thank you for suggesting that version.

    I look forward to more of your most welcome and interesting Comments.

    ReplyDelete