Christmas Evening Selection

"Hark The Herald Angeles Sing"

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems, 1739, alt.

Music: Men­dels­sohn, Fe­lix Men­dels­sohn, in his can­ta­ta Fest­ge­sang an die Künstler, 1840 (second movement, Va­ter­land, in dein­em Gau­en); the can­ta­ta cel­e­brat­ed the 400th an­ni­ver­sa­ry of Jo­hann Gu­ten­berg’s in­ven­tion of the print­ing press.

This ar­range­ment, by Will­iam H. Cum­mings, ap­peared in the Con­gre­ga­tion­al Hymn and Tune Book, by Ri­chard R. Chope, 1857.

Wesley is on the left and Cummings appears on the right.

Merry Christmas to all readers, and a special wish to my wife Sue McAnally-Gelatt and her children Kerri, Kristen, Michael and their family members, my daughter Miriam Elisabeth Wallace and her husband Tim and sons David Cooper and Connor James; my son Jim, Jr and his son Justin David, and my son David and his wife Judy and their sons Adam Curtis and Tyler James.