O Holy Night (2009) – David Hobson

‘O’….Listen to how good that letter sounds….’O’….just think about it will you? ‘O’ is even very circular in how it sounds. Guess what? O Holy Night is the first ‘O’ song to feature here in the ‘O’ mighty Music Library Project. Hurrah! I’m very excited. Also, at the time of writing this post about my favourite Christmas Carol, there remains only 93 days until the big man will be ‘HO HO HO-ing’ down the chimney to give my kids lots of cool things, except for a Play Station or XBox. What better way to celebrate the anticipation of such a miraculous occasion than listening to ‘O Holy Night‘?

[Verse 1]
O Holy night!The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
‘Til He appears and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees; O hear the Angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born
O night, O Holy night, O night divine!

I’m such a fan of this hymn/carol. It is the fourth time I have referred to it in my blog. But today is the first time I have dedicated a post to it, which it truly deserves. So here goes…. I can even tell you how two of my blogger friends, namely Max (PowerPop) and Bruce at (Weave a Web) might receive this song. Just a hunch…Max could say that his favourite Christmas Carol is Silent Night and Bruce could tell us that his favourite version of O Holy Night was sung by his mother who will remain nameless for the rest of his blogging days.

I once made a feeble attempt to present Hobson’s version on my blog which was titled: ‘Confirmed by Mother no Less, David Hobson is the Greatest Singer at Australian Christmas Carols‘. I’m not even going to ‘link’ it, because it doesn’t do it the least bit of justice, although my mother did declare Hobson’s dominance as a Carols’ singer, which is saying something. Three other versions I really like of O Holy Night are the following:

• Aled Jones – legendary Welsh Christian singer provides a spectacular version of O Holy Night when he was a teenage (prodigy) chorister and as a fully – grown adult.
• Patti Smith’s introspective version – Live at the Vatican! The violin instrumental is sublime. Bruce is a fan of this one if I remember correctly.
• The Wiggles – This version could make the Carol traditionalist cry in their weetbix, but what the heck, we were kids once too. As said in ‘All the President’s Men‘ – ‘Run that Baby‘.

The origin of O Holy Night from Wikipedia:

“O Holy Night” (original title: Cantique de Noël) is a sacred song for Christmas performance. Originally based on a French-language poem by poet Placide Cappeau, written in 1843, with the first line “Minuit, Chrétien, c’est l’heure solennelle” (Midnight, Christian, is the solemn hour) that composer Adolphe Adam set to music in 1847. The English version (with small changes to the initial melody) is by John Sullivan Dwight. The carol reflects on the birth of Jesus as humanity’s redemption.

Australian tenor and composer David Hobson has lavished Australian households with his impeccable voice on Christmas eve in Melbourne for a long time now (such as that below). I agree with Mum that I haven’t heard his equal sing at Carols. He kills it. Class act. There are also versions of him singing The Holy City (Jerusalem) which astound me. What’s your favourite Christmas carol and performed by whom? Giddy-up!

References:
1. O Holy Night – Wikipedia
2. David Hobson (tenor) – Wikipedia

About observationblogger

“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand