Talk:It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

未翻譯內容

未翻譯內容搬到這裡，但有可能過期。--Flame 歡迎泡茶 2011年4月11日 (一) 00:31 (UTC)

历史

Edmund Sears composed the five-stanza poem in 1849. It first appeared on December 29, 1849 in the Christian Register in Boston. Sears is said to have written these words at the request of his friend, W. P. Lunt, a minister in Quincy, Massachusetts.

曲子

In 1850, Richard Storrs Willis, a composer who trained under Felix Mendelssohn, wrote the melody called "Carol." This melody is most often set in the key of B-flat major in a six-eight time signature. "Carol" is the most widely known tune to the song in the United States.

In the United Kingdom the tune called "Noel", which was adapted from an English melody in 1874 by Arthur Sullivan, is the usual accompaniment. This tune also appears as an alternate in The Hymnal 1982, the hymnal of the United States Episcopal Church.

歌词

The full song comprises five stanzas. Some versions, including the United Methodist Hymnal and Lutheran Book of Worship, omit stanza three, while others (including The Hymnal 1982) omit verse four. Several variations also exist to Sears' original lyrics.

It came upon the midnight clear,

That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth,

To touch their harps of gold:

"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,¹

From heaven's all-gracious King."

The world in solemn stillness lay,

To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come,

With peaceful wings unfurled,

And still their heavenly music floats

O'er all the weary world;

Above its sad and lowly plains,

They bend on hovering wing,

And ever o'er its Babel sounds

The blessèd angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled²

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not³

The love-song which they bring;⁴

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,⁵

And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life's crushing load,⁶

Whose forms are bending low,

Who toil along the climbing way

With painful steps and slow,

Look now! for glad and golden hours

come swiftly on the wing.

O rest beside the weary road,

And hear the angels sing!

For lo!, the days are hastening on,

By prophet bards foretold,⁷

When with the ever-circling years

Comes round the age of gold⁸

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,⁹

And the whole world give back the song¹⁰

Which now the angels sing.

— Original five-stanza hymn

Alternative renderings:

¹Peace on the earth, goodwill to all

²Beneath the heavenly hymn have rolled

³And warring humankind hears not

⁴The tidings which they bring

⁵O hush the noise and cease your strife

⁶And you, beneath life's crushing load

⁷By prophets seen of old

⁸Shall come the time foretold

⁹When the new heaven and earth shall own

The prince of Peace their King

¹⁰And all the world give back the song

霍尔与奥兹版本

In 2006, a recording of the song by Daryl Hall & John Oates hit number one on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.

名稱

本文是介紹此歌曲的各個層面，而不只是中國基督教會的改編版本，因此不適合使用某一中文譯名作為條目名稱。—Iokseng（留言） 2012年7月12日 (四) 05:03 (UTC)