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= Adeste Fidelis =
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Introduction
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"O Come, All Ye Faithful", also known by its original title "", is a
Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including
John Francis Wade (1711-1786), John Reading (1645-1692), King John IV
of Portugal (1604-1656), and anonymous Cistercian monks. The earliest
printed version is in a book published by Wade. A manuscript by Wade,
dating to 1751, is held by Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.
The original four verses of the hymn were extended to a total of
eight, and these have been translated into many languages. In 1841,
the English Catholic priest Frederick Oakeley translated the hymn into
English as "O Come All Ye Faithful", which became widespread in
English-speaking countries.
Text
======
The original text of the hymn has been from time to time attributed to
various groups and individuals, including St. Bonaventure in the 13th
century or King John IV of Portugal in the 17th, though it was more
commonly believed that the text was written by Cistercian monks - the
German, Portuguese or Spanish provinces of that order having at
various times been credited. A parody of the chorus ("venite
apotemus") was current before 1542, when it appears in chapter 41 of
Rabelais' "Gargantua".
In modern English hymnals, the text is usually credited to John
Francis Wade, whose name appears on the earliest printed versions.
Wade, an English Catholic, lived in exile in France and made a living
as a copyist of musical manuscripts which he found in libraries. He
often signed his copies, possibly because his calligraphy was so
beautiful that his clients requested this . In 1751 he published a
printed compilation of his manuscript copies, 'Cantus Diversi pro
Dominicis et Festis per annum'. This is the first printed source for
'Adeste Fideles'.
The version published by Wade consisted of four Latin verses. Later in
the 18th century, the French Catholic priest wrote an additional
three verses in Latin. Another anonymous Latin verse is rarely
printed.
The text has been translated innumerable times into English. The most
common version today is a combination of one of Frederick Oakeley's
translations of the original four verses, and William Thomas Brooke's
translation of the first three additional verses. It was first
published in 'Murray's Hymnal' in 1852. Oakeley originally titled the
song "Ye Faithful, approach ye" when it was sung at his Margaret
Chapel in Marylebone (London), before it was altered to its current
form. The song was sometimes referred to as the "Portuguese Hymn"
after the Duke of Leeds, in 1795, heard a version of it sung at the
Portuguese embassy in London, now Our Lady of the Assumption and St
Gregory, Warwick Street. McKim and Randell nonetheless argue for
Wade's authorship of the most popular English-language version.
Bennett Zon offers limited support for that argument, although he also
suggests that the author may instead have been someone known to Wade.
Claims of Jacobite connections
================================
Although the hymn's exact sources and origins remain unproven, there
is universal agreement among musicologists that it was through the
efforts of Catholic layman and music copyist John Francis Wade that it
first appeared in print. Wade himself fled to France after the
Jacobite rising of 1745 was crushed, and his liturgical books were
often decorated with Jacobite imagery (for context, the aim of the
rebellion had been to restore a Catholic monarch - Charles Edward
Stuart, popularly known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie" - to the throne of
England). These aspects of Wade's life and political leanings have
given rise to speculation that he might have intended for 'Adeste
Fideles' to be a ciphered birth ode to the Jacobite's Young Pretender.
This theory regarding the hymn's meaning has been most recently
proposed by Professor Bennett Zon, head of music at Durham University.
It essentially holds that "the song's original Latin version was
actually a coded rallying cry for the Stewart cause". Elements of this
theory include:
* The as-yet-unproven but popular claim that "Bethlehem" was a common
Jacobite cipher for England.
* The claim (also currently unproven) that Wade deliberately meant for
the title 'Regem Angelorum' - which is found in the hymn's original
Latin lyrics and translates literally to "King of Angels" - to refer
to the king of England via a pun on the Latin words '"Angelorum"' ("of
the angels") and '"Anglorum"' ("of the English").
* The fact that during the mid-18th century some English Roman
Catholic liturgical books would place 'Adeste Fideles' physically
close to prayers for the would-be king in exile.
Proponents of this theory interpret the notions and circumstances
described above as evidence that the lyrics of 'Adeste Fideles' are
meant to be "a call to arms for faithful Jacobites to return with
triumphant joy to England (Bethlehem) and venerate the king of angels,
that is, the English king (Bonnie Prince Charlie)." However, certain
historical circumstances would seem to disprove or at least
problematize the Jacobite ode theory. Namely:
# The absence of any textual evidence that can conclusively prove that
Wade explicitly composed 'Adeste Fideles' as a piece of political
propaganda. In the absence of such evidence, the Jacobite imagery
found in Wade's books might be merely an expression of the author's
idiosyncratic blend of political and religious thought, which in turn
might have reflected the sentiments of Catholic Jacobites as a group.
# Sources that credit the hymn's composition to Wade overlook the fact
that the exact origins of 'Adeste Fideles' are uncertain. It is not
known whether Wade might have simply copied the hymn from other
sources (for instance, it could have been composed by Cistercian monks
and eventually sung at the Portuguese embassy chapel in London), or to
what extent he might have innovated on the contributions of the hymn's
other plausible authors.
# Most of the hymn's original lyrics are an almost-verbatim expression
of Roman Catholic dogmas regarding the person of Jesus Christ. As
stated elsewhere in this article, the hymn takes almost all its
contents from Bible verses and the Nicene Creed. To Irish musicologist
William H. Grattan Flood, it is so readily evident that the hymn is
merely an artistic expression of the Catholic spiritual and
intellectual tradition that he concludes that the words and music of
the song "are to be attributed to a Catholic source and for Catholic
worship".
Tune
======
Besides John Francis Wade, the tune has been attributed to several
musicians, from John Reading and his son, to Handel, and even the
German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck. The Portuguese composer
Marcos Portugal as well as King John IV of Portugal have also been
credited. Thomas Arne, whom Wade knew, is another possible composer.
There are several similar musical themes written around that time,
though it can be hard to determine whether these were written in
imitation of the hymn, whether the hymn was based on them, or whether
they are totally unconnected.
<< <<
\new Staff { \clef treble \time 4/4 \partial 4 \key g \major \set
Staff.midiInstrument = "church organ" \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t
\override Score.BarNumber #'transparent = ##t
\relative c'
<< { g4 | g2 d4 g | a2 d, | b'4 a b c | b2 a4 g4 | g2 fis4 e |
\break
fis4( g) a b | fis2( e4.) d8 | d1 | d'2 c4 b | c2 b | \break
a4 b g a | fis2 d4 \breathe \bar"||" g4 | g fis g a | g2 d4 b' | b a b
c | \break
b2 a4 b | c b a g | fis2 g4( c) | b2( a4.) g8 | g1 \bar"|." } \\
{ d4 | d2 d4 d | e2 d | d4 d d e | d2 d4 b | b( cis) d cis |
d2 d4 d | d2( cis4.) d8 | d1 | d2 e8( fis) g4 | g fis g2 |
d4 d e e | d2 d4 s4 | \small d1~ | d2. \normalsize d4 | d d d d |
d2 d4 g | fis g d d8( cis) | d2 d4( e) | d2~ d4. b8 | b1 }
>>
}
\new Staff { \clef bass \key g \major \set Staff.midiInstrument =
"church organ"
\relative c'
<< { b4 | b2 b4 b | c2 a | g4 a g g | g2 fis4 g | g2 a4 a |
a( g) fis d | a'2( g4.) fis8 | fis1 | b2 c4 d | c2 d |
d4 g, b c | a2 fis4 \small b4 | b a b c | b2. \normalsize g4 | g fis g
a |
g2 fis4 d' | d d a a | a2 g | g2( fis4.) g8 | g1 } \\
{ g4 | g2 g4 g | g2 fis | g4 fis g c, | d2 d4 e | e2 d4 a |
d( b) fis g | a2~ a4. d8 | d1 | b'2 a4 g | a2 g |
fis4 g e c | d2 d4 r | r1 | r1 | r1 |
r2 r4 g4 | a g fis e | d( c) b( c) | d2~ d4. g,8 | g1 } >>
}
>> >>
\layout { indent = #0 }
\midi { \tempo 4 = 90 }
Published versions
====================
The hymn was first published by John Francis Wade in his collection
'Cantus Diversi' (1751), with four Latin verses, and music set in the
traditional square notation used for medieval liturgical music. This
version is in triple meter, contrary to modern versions. It was
published again in the 1760 edition of 'Evening Offices of the
Church'. It also appeared in Samuel Webbe's 'An Essay on the Church
Plain Chant' (1782).
The hymn tune also made its way to the Sacred Harp tradition,
appearing as "Hither Ye Faithful, Haste with Songs of Triumph" in an
1860 collection.
With "Herbei, o ihr Gläub'gen" a German translation of the Latin text
was published in 1823 by Friedrich Heinrich Ranke.
Lyrics
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The carol has four original Latin verses as published in 1751 by John
Francis Wade, plus the traditional metrical English translation by
Frederick Oakeley from 1841.
| (3×) (3×) (3×) (3×) O come, all ye faithful, joyful and
triumphant! O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem; Come and behold Him
Born the King of Angels: O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the
Lord. God of God, light of light, Lo, he abhors not the Virgin's womb;
Very God, begotten, not created: O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ
the Lord. Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation, Sing, all ye
citizens of Heaven above! Glory to God, glory in the highest: O come,
let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord. Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born
this happy morning; Jesus, to thee be glory given! Word of the Father,
now in flesh appearing! O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the
Lord.
Additional lyrics
===================
Additional Latin verses were composed for the carol later in the 18th
century, though they are not commonly performed. These verses have
translations by William Thomas Brooke:
| See how the shepherds, summoned to His cradle, Leaving their
flocks, draw nigh to gaze; We too will thither bend our joyful
footsteps; O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord. Lo! star
led chieftains, Magi, Christ adoring, Offer Him incense, gold, and
myrrh; We to the Christ Child bring our hearts' oblations. O come, let
us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord. Child, for us sinners poor and in
the manger, We would embrace Thee, with love and awe; Who would not
love Thee, loving us so dearly? O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ
the Lord. There shall we see Him, His Eternal Father's Everlasting
Brightness now veiled under flesh; God shall we find there, a Babe in
infant clothing; O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord.
Performance
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In performance, verses are often omitted - either because the hymn is
too long in its entirety or because the words are unsuitable for the
day on which they are sung. For example, the eighth anonymous verse is
only sung on Epiphany, if at all; while the last verse of the original
is normally reserved for Christmas Midnight Mass, Mass at Dawn or Mass
during the Day, or if sung on a different day the line "Born this
happy morning" is changed to "Born for our salvation".
In the United Kingdom and United States it is often sung today in an
arrangement by Sir David Willcocks, which was originally published in
1961 by Oxford University Press in the first book in the Carols for
Choirs series. This arrangement makes use of the basic harmonisation
from 'The English Hymnal' but adds a soprano descant in verse six
(verse three in the original) with its reharmonised organ
accompaniment, and a last verse harmonisation in verse seven (verse
four in the original), which is sung in unison.
This carol has served as the penultimate hymn sung at the Festival of
Nine Lessons and Carols by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge,
after the last lesson from Chapter 1 of the Gospel of John.
Adeste Fideles is traditionally the final anthem during Midnight Mass
at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
See also
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* List of Christmas carols
External links
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*
* Free [http://cantorion.org/music/489/Christmas%20Carol%20Songbook
sheet music] of "O Come, All ye Faithful" for SATB from Cantorion.org
*
[http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/NonEnglish/adeste_fideles.htm
Adeste Fideles], two 19th-century arrangements
* [https://gavvie.tripod.com/adeste.html Original Latin, English
translation, historical notes]
* , sung to David Willcocks' arrangement by the Georgia Boy Choir
*
[https://wiibiplay.fun/watch/adeste-fideles-o-come-all-ye-faithful_vsuaPaPqNbtGgZD.html
"O Come, All Ye Faithful"] A cappella choir Collegium Vocale on
Wiibiplay
License
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adeste_Fidelis
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