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It's Christmas time. And what better time to take a look at the Christmas hymns in The Hymnal 1982? In particular, we will be looking at the less commonly sung hymns in the Christmas section. You may wish to begin with part 1 of this series.

We're using a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the least popular and 10 being the most popular. (On this scale, we cranked it up to 11 for hymns which are unbelievably popular.) Here we look at hymns that score highly, starting with 10's, then 9's, then 8's.

It may seem a little counterintuitive to continue with more of the most popular Christmas hymns in the Hymnal in a study of the most uncommon Christmas hymns, but I think this will help weed out all the ones we know, and maybe we'll even learn a thing or two along the way.

Level 10: The well-designed super-classics

It may seem strange to talk about something as folksy as a Christmas hymn as being "designed" but these next four hymns all score a 10 in large part because of the symmetry of their respective tunes.

• Hymn 96: "Angels we have heard on high" - A very familiar hymn that is marked by a clear AABB' tune structure. To make matters even easier, BB' is a refrain. Note that in the repeat of A the Hymnal uses a different harmony, but the melody itself remains the same. I think we can safely assume that most Christmas congregations are largely singing the melodies of these hymns.

  This hymn does require the congregation to sing in Latin, but they seem more than happy to oblige.

• Hymn 100: "Joy to the world! the Lord is come" - You can't get any more clear than a descending major scale in this tune: ANTIOCH. People go bananas for this one. What's funny is the apocryphal fermata that congregations attempt once the scale has been climbed again ("let earth receive her KIIIIIIIIING!").

  I call this "diva syndrome": holding the high notes for longer than authorized. The congregation usually shows symptoms in spades here. But note that the Hymnal makes no provision for this, and I think it is contrary to the nimble spirit of the tune. (The excellent and elegant treatment of the tune by the editors of the New Oxford Book of Carols stands as a counter example to this.)

  Another point must be made about this "Christmas" hymn. In the Hymnal 1940 it was not included in the Christmas section, but numbered among the General Hymns. Furthermore, it was not sung to the familiar tune ANTIOCH but to RICHMOND (think the Advent Hymn 72: "Hark the glad sound! the Savior comes" or the Easter Hymn 212 "Awake, arise, lift up your voice").

  How remarkable then that this hymn enjoys such popularity at present. This hymnal is only the first to include the popular tune and text pairing. It achieved wide popularity in other denominations and in the secular Christmas milieu in the middle of the last century when other denominational hymnals paired it with ANTIOCH.

• Hymn 109: "The first Nowell" - AA'B might be one way to label the form of this folk tune, where B actually begins just like another A. It's motivically very coherent. It's also long. This is a wordy, wordy hymn, but people love it.
• Hymn 115: "What child is this" - This is a wildly popular old English folk melody GREENSLEEVES. Its longevity is part and parcel with its familiarity. And it's structure has streamlined its reception down through the centuries: AA'BB'. Paired with this text, it is part of the expected Christmas experience.

Level 9: The sugary classics

The next grouping of hymns all have a certain sweetness about them, some cloyingly so.

• Hymn 79: "O little town of Bethlehem" (ST. LOUIS). You need only know a little bit about the composition of this hymn at Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia to be somewhat captivated by its magic.

  The Hymnal 1982 Companion goes so far as to say: "In the experience for many Americans this hymn has acquired such an affectionate association with Christmas that its repeated performance is an essential part of the celebration of the season." In their eyes, we may have ranked it too low. The tune simply oozes mid nineteenth century sappiness.

  The setting of this hymn to the alternative tune, FOREST GREEN, is only slightly less popular in America, we'll wager (see below).

• Hymn 89: "It came upon the midnight clear". This music is so sappy that a beginning church musician would be forgiven for confusing it with the music above. The hymn doesn't mention the birth of Christ, just lots of business about angels. So apparently angels sound like mid-nineteenth-century crooners.
• Hymn 102: "Once in royal David's city". The wide popularity this hymn enjoys is without question a result of its being broadcast the world over on recordings of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge. It is a sweet hymn written for children, proving that we're all just children when it comes to Christmastide.
• Hymn 105: "God rest ye merry, gentlemen". This hymn first appeared in the Hymnal 1940 and has gained acceptance in other denominational hymnals much more recently. At the present time, it is safe to say that this is part of the shopping mall Christmas soundtrack.
• Hymn 107: "Good Christian friends, rejoice" occupies this place due to its sheer longevity. These words have been linked to this tune since at least the sixteenth century. It's a long-standing part of Christmas hymnody.

Level 8: Other classics, but with tune issues

• Hymn 78: "O little town of Bethlehem" (FOREST GREEN). This is the stiff-upper-lip version of the hymn of the same name above. I'm probably being too kind when I score it an 8 and say it's only a shade less popular than it's American counterpart. It is certainly more noble.

  But it should also be noted that FOREST GREEN is not exclusively a Christmas tune. It appears twice more in the '82 Hymnal with more general texts.

• Hymn 81: "Lo, how a rose e'er blooming". My sense is that congregations like this little tune, but that choirs like it more. There is a real satisfaction to singing the Praetorius harmonization here. Add a few quarter rests, some repeated syncopations, and I wonder if the slight complexity to this graceful tune doesn't hamper its popularity a little.
• Hymn 93: "Angels from the realms of glory". It is surprising to me that so many identify this so readily as a Christmas hymn, when the tune is a rather general one which has been used to sing any number of hymns. In the '82 book it also sets "Holy Father, great Creator"; in the '40, "Christ is made the sure foundation", and "Light's abode, celestial Salem". If it were a "real" hymn, surely it would have garnered it's own distinct tune?
• Hymn 94: "While shepherds washed watched their socks flocks by night". This is one of the oldest hymns on American shores, being one of the hymns bound together with the 1786 Prayer Book. Is it just me, or is this tune a little too staid to be really Christmassy?

  The New Oxford Book of Carols notes: "with lines of 8.6.8.6. syllables . . . by far the widest number of tunes could be drawn upon. Indeed, no other hymn has been sung to so many tunes and settings. ... It would be good if the near-hegemony now enjoyed by the excellent tune [WINCHESTER OLD] could give way to a little of the earlier diversity."

One final note: in The Hymnal 1940, which provides two tune choices under the same hymn number, the Second Tune given for this hymn is CAROL. This is a fascinating appearance of the tune which is now fully associated with "It came upon the midnight clear".

Labels: Christmas, Hymnal 1940, Hymnal 1982, hymns