Nowell: Masters in this Hall


Masters in this Hall, hear ye news to-day
Brought from over sea – and ever I you pray;
Chorus:
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell!    Nowell, sing we clear
Holpen are all folk on earth,  born is God’s son so dear:
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell!   Nowell, sing we loud
God to-day hath poor folk raised, and cast a-down the proud . . .
Going o’er the hills, through the milk-white snow
Heard the ewes  bleat while the wind did blow
Chorus
Then to Bethlem town we went two by two,
And in a sorry place, heard the oxen low
Chorus
Therein did we see a  sweet and goodly maid
And a fair old man; upon the straw she lay
Chorus
This is Christ the Lord — Masters be ye glad!
Christmas is come in, and no folk should be sad

CasparDavidF snow 1

Caspar David Friedrich: Monastery Ruins in the Snow (1818)

English Lyrics: William Morris, 1834-1896
Music: traditional French tune 17th century

White Christmas

I love my White Christmas culture !
Lovely time of year.

Just watch the Anglican rectors, don’t leave them alone with the choirboys.
And please, keep the prince away from the younger girls
when he’s been hitting the holiday punch.

THANKS BE TO GOD

☃♥☃

Soli Deo Gloria

Did anyone suffer in the year 1570? Most probably they did. Would they, or anyone suffering in any year, including 2020, be more likely to be consoled and exalted by the first piece of music or the second? Were their lives improved by people tending to listen to the first kind of music or the second? Why is Pachelbel’s Canon in D chosen as wedding music far more frequently than “F___ tha Police”?

I believe there is a transcendent convergence of Truth, Good, and Beauty in the Mind of God. The manuscripts of Johann Sebastian Bach were usually signed SDG, which stands for Soli Deo Gloria – to God alone the glory. This is not merely an expression of humility. It is also an acknowledgement that all reality is dependent on God alone, and that our best work in science, art, or morals merely reveals some of the workings of God’s Infinite Mind.

Beauty as an expression of meaning: Surakvulcan

There is much wisdom at Surakblog. Go check it out.