12 Christmas Carols (Dutch)

A long time ago I bought a booklet of simple arrangements of Christmas carols on sale. We even used to have two shops in Hengelo that sold sheet music, but that is long long ago.

Peter Gerits was the arranger of the bundle of 12 carols. He kept the complexity of the music neatly within the boundaries of the novice player. That does not mean that you should not practice playing the songs fluently and with some expression. They are nice arrangements that preserve the original melody well. Unfortunately, the bundle is no longer available, or you had to be lucky in a thrift store.

I made the recordings in our attic to burn compact discs for a Christmas card. Hence the name of these recordings: Christmas Carols from the Attic.

Note that the song titles are in Dutch. In the descriptions of the pieces, I will mention the translation, if available.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Latin for Glory to God on High. On Christmas night, the angels are said to have sung this song after they had reported to the shepherds that Jesus had been born.

It is doubtful that those shepherds, being simple people, could understand Latin, especially since it was the language of the hated Roman occupier who brutally kept the Jews under control and later even had the temple in Jerusalem destroyed. If the angels sang at all, it should have been in Aramaic…

Komt Allen Tezamen

Komt Allen Tezamen began its existence as Adeste Fidelis, Latin for Come, Faithful Ones! The melody originally comes from Portugal and was converted into the well-known Christmas carol by John Francis Wade (1711 – 1786). He composed it in Douai, France, after fleeing the Protestant troubles in England as a Catholic.

‘t Is geboren het Goddelijk Kind

Het Is geboren het Goddelijk Kind (It Is Born the Divine Child) is a translation of the French Il est né le Divin Enfant. This song originated there in the nineteenth century as a composition by a French organist in the collection Airs des Noëls Lorrains. A song from Lorraine…

Hoe leit dit Kindeke

Hoe leit dit Kindeke comes from a German collection from the 17th century: The Wettener Liederhandschrift. Wetten is a village near the pilgrimage site of Kevelaer.

Er is een Roos ontsprongen

Er is een Roos ontsprongen (Lo, how a rose e’er blooming) is originally a German Christmas carol from the 16th century. The German composer Michael Praetorius (1571 – 1621) set the song to the melody we know today.

Nu zijt Wellekome

Nu zijt Wellekome is a derivation of what is said to be the oldest Dutch Christmas song Sijs willekomen heirre Kerst from the fourteenth century.

De Herdertjes lagen bij Nachte

De Herdertjes lagen bij Nachte first appeared in the collection Oude en nieuwere Kerstliederen by the writer/publisher Joseph Alberdingk Thijm (1820 – 1889). The melody is of an earlier date.

The 6/8 measure strongly reminds me of Spanish Christmas songs, perhaps the melody has made quite a journey to get here!

Slaap nu mijn Jezuke

The origin of Slaap nu mijn Jezuke (Sleep now, little Jesus) is vague. The Dutch composer Carel Jacobs (1909 -1980) wrote the current melody. Jacobs was one of the founders of the then Twente Conservatory in Enschede, Holland. It has now been absorbed into the Artez conglomerate.

Te Bethlehem geboren

Te Bethlehem geboren (Born in Bethlehem) is a Christmas carol with the lyrics of Friedrich von Spee von Langenfeld (1591 – 1635) and the melody of a French folk song from the sixteenth century.

This song was one of my late mother-in-law’s favorites. A nice memory of the Christmas songs I used to play there for Christmas dinner.

Herders Hij is geboren

Herders Hij is geboren (Shepherds He is born) is set to the melody of a Flemish folk song from the seventeenth century. An old version appears in the songbook Evangelische Leeuwerck from 1682. This collection was composed by the Flemish composer Christiaan de Placker (1613 – 1691.

Maria zoude naar Bethlehem gaan

Maria zoude naar Bethlehem gaan (Mary would go to Bethlehem) appeared in the collection Oude en nieuwere Kerstliederen by the writer/publisher Joseph Alberdingk Thijm (1820 – 1889). The melody is from an earlier date and comes from the anonymous collection Het prieel der gheestelijke Melody from 1609.

Stille Nacht Heilige Nacht

Stille Nacht Heilige Nacht (Silent Night). An internationally known Christmas carol, which was composed out of sheer necessity by Franz Gruber (1787 – 1863), the teacher and organist of the Austrian village of Oberndorf.

The story tells that on Christmas Eve the organ broke down, and that Gruber took his guitar and came up with the melody to a song for which he had received the lyrics from the chaplain. This is how Silent Night was born, a melody that eventually became world famous.