01 January 2010

Merry Christmas! Day Eight

And so the Feast of the Circumcision. Here's a marvelous Vajda text with a Schalk setting. It's from the perspective of God the Father to the angels on the night of Christmas: "When He brought His firstborn into the world, He said: Let all the angels of God worship Him!"

"Before the Marvel of This Night," Let All the People Praise You, #54
1.
Before the marvel of this night
Adoring, fold your wings and bow,
Then tear the sky apart with light
And with your news the world endow.
Proclaim the birth of Christ and peace,
That fear and death and sorrow cease:
Sing peace, sing peace, sing gift of peace.
Sing peace, sing gift of peace.
2.
Awake the sleeping world with song,
This is the day the Lord has made.
Assemble here, celestial throng,
In royal splendor come arrayed.
Give earth a glimpse of heav'nly bliss, A teasing taste of what they miss:
Sing bliss, sing bliss, sing endless bliss.
Sing bliss, sing endless bliss.

3.
The love that we have always known,
Our constant joy and endless light,
Now to the loveless world be shown,
Now break upon its deathly night.
Into one song compress the love,
That rules our universe above:
Sing love, sing love, sing God is love.
Sing love, sing God is love.

2 comments:

Cha said...

Who is this singing? They did a lovely job on this fine anthem (an anthem I did lots of times back in the day and which I can still sing from memory.)

Thanks for sharing.

William Weedon said...

-C,

The Youtube source doesn't give that info, sadly. But it is a lovely anthem indeed. Pax!