Authorship Note Although the music was composed by Mendelssohn, his music was posthumously adapted by Cummings to an unrelated sacred text by Charles Wesley (poet) (1707-1788) for this carol (see end of page) |
Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's | 1 carol |
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Composition Year | 1855 |
Genre Categories | Carols; Religious works; Sacred hymns; |
Work Title | Hark! The Herald Angels Sing |
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Alternative. Title | |
Composer | Cummings, William Hayman |
I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No. | None [force assignment] |
Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's | 1 carol |
Year/Date of CompositionY/D of Comp. | 1855 |
First Publication. | 1855-12-24 by J. J. Ewer & Co., London |
Librettist | Charles Wesley (1707-1788) |
Language | English |
Composer Time PeriodComp. Period | Romantic |
Piece Style | Romantic |
Instrumentation | mixed chorus (SATB), organ |
External Links | Wikipedia article |
Extra Information | In 1855 Cummings adapted part of the "Vaterland, in deinen Gauen" section from the Festgesang zum Gutenbergfest, WoO 9, by Felix Mendelssohn (1840), making changes to the rhythm and harmonisation of the original to fit the lyrics of Charles Wesley's "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (1754). Wesley intended his words to be sung to the same tune as his hymn "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" and in some hymnals that tune is included for "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" along with the more popular Mendelssohn-Cummings tune (see Wikipedia article). |