It came upon the midnight clear
with
CAROL
NOEL
I. Text: Origins
This Christmas carol was written by Edmund H. Sears (1810–1876), when he was pastor of a Unitarian congregation in Wayland, Massachusetts. His text was first published in the Christian Register (Boston), vol. 28, no. 52 (29 December 1849), without music, in five stanzas of eight lines, signed “E.H.S.” (Fig. 1). This initial presentation included a brief introduction with a generous compliment for one of Sears’ other carols:
If there is one grand strain that might be supposed to have floated down through the ages, from the celestial anthem sung over Bethlehem, we are almost ready to believe it was caught, interpreted, and reported, in that glorious hymn printed in all our hymn-books (any hymn-book would be fatally defective without it), beginning “Calm on the listening ear of night.” Hardly any circumstance has befallen us in the few months of our editorial duty than the reception of the following verses from the same writer.
The editor of the Christian Register at the time was John Hopkins Morison (1808–1896), pastor of the Unitarian congregation at Milton, Massachusetts. He later recalled the experience of receiving the hymn from Sears:
Sears’ second Christmas hymn was sent to me as editor of the Christian Register, I think, in December, 1849. I was very much delighted with it, and before it came out in the Register, read it at a Christmas celebration of Dr. Lunt’s Sunday school in Quincy. I always feel that, however poor my Christmas sermon may be, the reading and singing of this hymn are enough to make up for all deficiencies.[1]
At its core, the hymn is not a narrative expression of the story of the angels and shepherds in Luke 2, it is a hymn of application, admonishing humankind to heed the message of peace declared by the angels, and it offers a word of hope in the coming of an eschatological era of peace. At the time of its writing, the United States had only recently ended the Mexican-American War (1846–1848), and it would soon descend into a Civil War (1861–1865).
The hymn was published again near the end of Sears’ life in his collection of Sermons and Songs of Christian Life (Boston: Noyes, Holmes & Co., 1875), with some small changes. In this collection, the hymn prefaced a sermon for Christmas Eve called “One Mediator,” based on 1 Timothy 2:5–6, where he explored a different kind of peace, this time in the form of spiritual strife:
The word here rendered “Mediator” means one who comes between two parties, and, in the more specific Christian sense of the word, between two parties to reconcile them and make peace between them. It presupposes a state of enmity and warfare, so that an old commentator does no more than justice to the original when he renders—There is one God, and one peace-maker between God and man.
We do not yet, however, come to the full thought of the original word. These analogies from human affairs only help us a little to climb up to the great doctrine involved. A man who goes between two hostile armies and negotiates a peace represents very dimly and remotely the Divine Mediation in Jesus Christ. On the Divine side, this does not represent the fact at all. For God has no hostility towards his creatures; the enmity is all on one side, and the fearful chasm and antagonism between the Divine nature and human nature do not require any treaty-making or going between, that God may understand us, and be made placable towards us. … He is peace-maker in that he opens between both the streams and courses through which the Divine Peace flows to man and reconciles him, so to say, under the omnipotence of the Divine Love (pp. 19–20).
Fig. 1. Christian Register (Boston), vol. 28, no. 52 (29 December 1849), p. 206.
Fig. 2. Sermons and Songs of Christian Life (Boston: Noyes, Holmes & Co., 1875).
II. Text: Assessment and Alteration
The editors of the New Oxford Book of Carols (1992) saw a strong connection between the message of the carol and the denomination of its writer:
This fine Christmas hymn is a meditation on man’s wilful deafness to the message of the angels, and not surprisingly, was written by a Unitarian minister: the Unitarian Church has a long and continuing history of social concern (p. 375).
The editors of the British Methodist Companion to Hymns & Psalms (1988) offered this assessment of the song and its message:
The original is not really a Nativity hymn, but an ethical song extolling the worth and splendour of world peace, based on the song of the angels in Luke 2:14. But its social message is surely as urgent now as when it was written. The third verse especially reflects the widespread unrest consequent upon the gold rush and the passing of the fugitive slave law in the United States, the Chartist movement in Britain, and the political revolutions in Germany and France. Ironically, in America the gathering storm clouds erupted a dozen years later in the Civil War.[2]
Likewise, Carlton R. Young, writing for the American Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (1993), said “It embodies the witness of Unitarians in the time of political and social unrest preceding the Civil War” (p. 434).
Many hymnal editors have reduced the hymn in various ways, to either three or four stanzas. They balk especially at the language in the final stanza, especially pseudo-scriptural phrases such as “prophet bards” and “age of gold.” The concept of an “age of gold” traces to the philosophy of Humanism in the Italian Renaissance. Lutheran scholar Fred L. Precht was especially critical of the final stanza, for which he described the need “to oviate the false chiliastic hope of universal peace with the entire converted world joining in the hymn of praise.”[3] Many hymnal compilers have borrowed or imitated alterations from The Sarum Hymnal (1868 | Fig. 3), which changed these phrases to read “prophets seen” and “time foretold.”
Fig. 3. The Sarum Hymnal (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1868).
The Sarum Hymnal initiated another important change which addresses a common concern over the absence of the Christ child from Sears’ hymn. It thus expanded the scope from earthly peace to include heaven, and named their true ruler as the Prince of Peace.
Some modern hymnals avoid the masculine language of the hymn, such as “man at war with man” and “good will to men,” instead opting for changes like “we at war on earth,” and “good will to all,” or other options.
Hymnologist Erik Routley believed this to be “the first Christmas hymn in English with a social message,”[4] but he also saw this characteristic as a pitfall:
It is, indeed, not a Nativity hymn in any sense, . . . in its original form, the hymn is little more than an ethical song extolling the worth and splendour of peace among men. Even though the business of war has become a thousand times more horrific than it was when the words were written, more than a century ago, there are many who feel that it still will not do to limit the Christmas message to the satisfaction of a human need, even when it is as desperate as we now know this need to be.[5]
Pastor and writer Robert Cottrill noted how the Bible does offer promises for future prosperity and peace (exemplified especially in Isaiah 9:6–7 and Amos 9:14):
As stanza 5 proclaims, there is indeed an “age of gold” coming up ahead. But it will not be brought about by social action, or peace treaties, or any of the feeble and faltering efforts of man. It will be ushered in at the return of Christ, when He rules over the earth, bringing in the Kingdom Age of peace and plenty. The “prophet-bards foretold” it, many times (e.g. Isa. 2:1–4; 9:6–7; Dan. 7:13–14; Amos 9:11–15; cf. Rev. 20:1–4). . . . Yes, a better day is coming with the return of the glorified Son of God. But not yet. And we pray with John, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).[6]
III. Tune: CAROL
One of the earliest and most successful musical settings for Sears’ text is the tune CAROL, written by Richard Storrs Willis (1819–1900), an American composer and music journalist. Willis’s tune first appeared in his collection Church Chorals and Choir Studies (1850 | Fig. 4), named STUDY NO. 23 and set to a hymn by Philip Doddridge (1702–1751), “See Israel’s gentle shepherd stand.”
Fig. 4. Church Chorals and Choir Studies (NY: Clark, Austin & Smith, 1850). Melody in the third staff.
In his preface, Willis explained how this tune belonged to a class of compositions he dubbed Choir Studies, and what this meant to him:
The author has here prepared a class of tunes of a more artistic and pleasing character, intended for choir practice, for judicious church use, also, as well as for lovers of sacred song, in their occasional gatherings, either in the social or home circle. And particular attention would here be called to the separate index of this department, in which a progressive arrangement has been made, from the simplest of these studies to those of the most elaborate character. The words, it may be added, of the Studies as of the Chorals have been selected with great care, and comprise the very choicest of our church hymns. The whole hymn, in most cases, has been given, and in every case as much of unusually long hymns as the space permitted.
Soliciting for this new department in his work all kindly consideration, it being a garden in which he has ventured to plant some of his own music-thoughts, the author trusts that in the flowering, they may yield a hallowed fragrance to the heart of every performer, and that a kind Angel may reveal the hidden soul of this entire work—the love of the Eternal, to every spirit breathing over it (p. 17).
Regarding the progressive index, this tune was listed as the tenth in order of difficulty. Notice how this early version of the tune only included about half of the melody as it is known through its use as a carol.
In a letter to publisher Hubert Main, dated 25 October 1887, once in the possession of the Library of Congress, personally examined and transcribed by Episcopal hymnal editor and longtime Library of Congress librarian Leonard Ellinwood (1905–1994), Willis gave an account of the tune’s evolution:
Study No. 23 has undergone various vicissitudes. I expanded it first into a Christmas Carol while a vestryman in the Church of the Transfiguration, N.Y. (the Little Church around the corner), adapting it to the words “While shepherds watched their flocks by night.” Later Dr. (now Bishop) Potter requested a copy of the manuscript for Grace Church, which I gave him. On my return from Europe in ’76, I found that it had been incorporated into various church collections.[7]
An exemplar of his original expansion of the tune to fit “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” from his own hand or as used at his church, does not appear to survive. The earliest known published appearance of the revised version of the tune was in Hymns of the Church with Tunes (NY: A.S. Barnes & Company, 1869 | Fig. 5), where it appeared with “While shepherds watched their flocks by night.” In this collection, produced for the Reformed Church in America, it was called PIERCE, and it was credited to Willis in the index.
Fig. 5. Hymns of the Church with Tunes (NY: A.S. Barnes & Company, 1869).
The earliest known appearance of Willis’s tune with “It came upon the midnight clear” was in Hymns and Songs of Praise for Public and Social Worship (NY: Anson D.F. Randolph, 1874 | Fig. 6), where it was called CAROL and it was given as a suitable tune for “While shepherds watched their flocks by night” and Sears’s other Christmas hymn, “Calm on the listening ear of night.” In this collection, the tune was credited to Willis but was not dated.
Fig. 6. Hymns and Songs of Praise for Public and Social Worship (NY: Anson D.F. Randolph, 1874).
In another noteworthy printing, The Hymnal of the Reformed Church in the United States (Philadelphia: Sunday School Board, 1890 | Fig. 7), the tune was dated 1861, and it was apparently used with proper permission from Willis. The musical arrangement was identical to the 1874 printing.
Fig. 7. The Hymnal of the Reformed Church in the United States (Philadelphia: Sunday School Board, 1890).
IV. Tune: NOEL
The other most common tune setting for Sears’ text is NOEL, adapted by Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) from a folk tune closely associated with the song “Dives and Lazarus.” Sullivan’s adaptation was printed in Church Hymns with Tunes (1874 | Fig. 8), where it was paired with Sears’ text. In this version of the tune, Sullivan borrowed and altered melodic ideas from the folk tune for his first, second, and fourth phrases, and he newly composed the third musical phrase (lines 5–6 of the text), yielding a new tune twice as long as the original (see Fig. 9 below). Notice also how the last stanza of the text was omitted and the fourth was extensively rewritten (“O Prince of Peace, Thou knowest well,” etc.).
Fig. 8. Church Hymns with Tunes (London: SPCK, 1874).
For comparison, the shorter form of the tune had appeared four years earlier in the Second Series of Christmas Carols New and Old, edited by John Stainer (London: Novello, 1870 | Fig. 7). It appeared with the folk carol “Dives and Lazarus” (“As it fell out upon a day”), which is based on Luke 16 (Dives is Latin for rich, often taken into English as the rich man’s name).
Fig. 9. Christmas Carols New and Old, Second Series (London: Novello, 1870).
In later collections, starting with The English Hymnal (1906), another variant of this folk tune was dubbed EARDISLEY, named after a transcription of the tune collected in Eardisley, Herefordshire, for the Journal of the Folk Song Society, vol. 2, no. 7 (1905), pp. 125–126. The folk carol “Dives and Lazarus” has roots dating to the 16th century, printed on broadsides licensed by the Company of Stationers as early as 1557.[8] It is also commonly sung to a tune known as KINGSFOLD.
by Chris Fenner
for Hymnology Archive
with special thanks to Andrea D’Ignazio
6 December 2019
rev. 1 December 2020
Footnotes:
Quoted in Alfred P. Putnam, Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1875), p. 308.
J.R. Watson, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Companion to Hymns & Psalms (1988), p. 96.
Fred L. Precht, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Lutheran Worship Hymnal Companion (1992), p. 72.
Erik Routley, “It came upon the midnight clear,” English Speaking Hymnal Guide (1979), p. 42.
Erik Routley, The English Carol (1958), pp. 160–161.
Robert Cottrill, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Wordwise Hymns (31 May 2013): https://wordwisehymns.com/2013/05/31/it-came-upon-the-midnight-clear/
“While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” The Hymnal 1940 Companion, 3rd rev. ed. (1962), p. 13.
Francis James Child, “Dives and Lazarus,” The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Part III (Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1885), p. 10: Archive.org
Related Resources:
Edmund H. Sears, “Christmas Carols,” “One Mediator,” Sermons and Songs of Christian Life (Boston: Noyes, Holmes & Co., 1875), pp. 17–18, 19–31: Archive.org
F.M.B., “Edmund Hamilton Sears,” A Dictionary of Hymnology, ed. John Julian (London: J. Murray, 1892), p. 1036: Google Books
“Dives and Lazarus,” Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: University Press, 1928), pp. 118–119, 469.
Albert Edward Bailey, “It came upon the midnight clear,” The Gospel in Hymns (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), pp. 517–518.
Erik Routley, The English Carol (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1958), pp. 160–162.
“It came upon the midnight clear,” The Hymnal 1940 Companion, 3rd rev. ed. (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1962), pp. 15–16.
Erik Routley, “It came upon the midnight clear,” English Speaking Hymnal Guide (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1979), p. 42.
Richard Watson & Kenneth Trickett, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Companion to Hymns & Psalms (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1988), pp. 96–97.
Hugh Keyte & Andrew Parrott, “It came upon the midnight clear,” New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: University Press, 1992), pp. 374–375.
David W. Music, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992), p. 167.
Fred L. Precht, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Lutheran Worship Hymnal Companion (St. Louis: Concordia, 1992), p. 72.
Carlton R. Young, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993), pp. 434–435.
Harold Eskew & Raymond Glover, “It came upon the midnight clear,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 174–176.
J.R. Watson, “It came upon the midnight clear,” An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (Oxford: University Press, 2002), pp. 364–365.
Beverly Howard, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Sing with Understanding, 3rd ed., edited by C. Michael Hawn (Chicago: GIA, 2022), pp. 176–177.
Robert Cottrill, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Wordwise Hymns (31 May 2013): https://wordwisehymns.com/2013/05/31/it-came-upon-the-midnight-clear/
Leland Ryken, “It came upon the midnight clear,” 40 Favorite Hymns for the Christian Year (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2020), pp. 156–160.
J.R. Watson & Carlton R. Young, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/i/it-came-upon-the-midnight-clear
Douglas Anderson, “It came upon the midnight clear,” Hymns and Carols of Christmas:
https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/it_came_upon_the_midnight_clear1.htm
“It came upon the midnight clear,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/it_came_upon_the_midnight_clear