“Christmas is upon us!”. At least so commonly they say. Even if for some, especially the little ones, Christmas is under the tree; and it is made of geometric shapes that explode at the stroke of midnight. For others, Christmas is the glittering lights that decorate an avenue, a snow-covered or climatically cold square; an opportunity to tell the heart at the end of another year. Christmas is upon us, really; and it is the songs heard beyond the door that announce it to you insistently. Those Christmas songs with a flourishing, as much as ancient, tradition. That warm the mildest hearts; which invite to a sincere conviviality through choral performance. But these Christmas carols will also have an origin, older than the concertos projected on television networks. Let's find out what it is.
Origins of Christmas Carols
The Christmas song has origins that had liturgical functions. The first songs are from the seventeenth century and consisted of lullabies in ode to the baby Jesus; Northern Italy was teeming with these songs, for this reason the best known are the Venetian and Bergamo lullabies. But the songs were also heard from the south from the throat of the shepherds of the countryside who sang songs inspired by the lauds sung during the liturgical processions held in central Italy around the thirteenth century; strictly, they too, dedicated to the Child Jesus, in Neapolitan, Sardinian and Sicilian languages. But the Christmas atmosphere also knew the interest of cultured music, through the various "Pastorals", such as Bach's "Christmas Oratorio", which included a greater harmonic study, much more complex than a popular song.
The Italian Christmas repertoire music, among the most important songs, includes songs like "Tu scendi dalle stelle", "Adeste Fideles", sung by various association choral groups, school choral groups and sometimes even by choirs from higher education institutes musical, through more professionally developed arrangements.
Italian Christmas Repertoire
Composed in 1754 by the very Catholic Neapolitan bishop and composer, Alfonso Maria de 'Liguori, You come down from the stars becomes part of the Italian Christmas repertoire. A piece written in 6/8 (six eighths) intended to paraphrase hundreds of Christmas days; for the same reason one of the most famous Italian songs. But there is a sub-truth to be known under the glory of this song. It seems that Tu Scendi dalle Stelle derives from the melodic model of another Neapolitan song written by the composer himself, called “Quanno nascette Ninno”; the choice of the Neapolitan language was dictated by the need to extend this song to the general understanding of the people, although this was published in Italian "For the birth of Jesus".
Unlike You come down from the Stars, Adeste Fideles it is a Christmas song whose paternity remains unknown; since there is not sufficient evidence to substantiate membership of anyone. From the various historiographical researches, only the name of the transcriber emerges who is in charge of manually transcribing both the text and the score. This is Sir John Francis Wade, who allegedly did so by transcribing the melodic model of an Irish folk theme commissioned for a French Provençal Catholic choir.
