Ever since I was a wee boy, I was enamoured with the traditional religious carol – Oh Come, All Ye Faithful. One of my earliest memories is hearing Bing Crosby’s version which closed his The Small One narration. The other version I like includes my favourite Christmas Carol singer David Hobson (pictured above). I can assure you he will be back again as we continue on the Christmas Countdown of my 10 favourite Christmas songs and hymns (shared in no particular order) to carry us up to Christmas Eve.
The Melbourne ‘Carol’s by Candlelight’ where tenor David Hobson and soprano Marina Prior sang today’s featured carol is an annual Christmas Eve event in Australia. A lot of families tune into it after enjoying their Christmas Eve dinner and the letting off Christmas Crackers (Bonbons). Their version of Oh Come, All Ye Faithful which I have presented also features the National Boys Choir of Australia and Australian Girls Choir. And below that (at the end of this post) is the aforementioned Bing Crosby version.
The following was extracted from the Wikipedia article below:
“O Come, All Ye Faithful”, also known as “Adeste Fideles” (latin), is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and anonymous Cistercian monks. The earliest printed version is in a book published by Wade. A manuscript by Wade, dating to 1751, is held by Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.
Besides John Francis Wade, the tune has been attributed to several musicians, from John Reading and his son, to Handel (who only featured here 2 days ago with his Hallelujah chorus from Messiah), and even the German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck.
This carol has served as the penultimate hymn sung at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, after the last lesson from Chapter 1 of the Gospel of John. Also, Adeste Fideles is traditionally the final anthem during Midnight Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
1 O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Come, and behold Him, born the King of angels!
Refrain:
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
2 God of God, Light of Light,
lo, He abhors not the virgin’s womb;
very God, begotten not created; [Refrain]
3 Sing, choirs of angels; sing in exultation;
sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest![Refrain]
4 Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv’n!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing! [Refrain]
References:
1. Oh Come, All Ye Faithful – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
“Oh Come, All Ye Faithful” reminds me of school back in Germany. We either learned that song during music or English class – must have been like 6th grade. Since my grandparents didn’t speak English, we only sang German Christmas carols on December 24 in the evening in front of the Christmas tree before exchanging presents.
That was interesting to read about your association and background with the song. How do you like the German carols as opposed to the English ones or are the mostly one of the same, but for the language difference? You opened presents on Christmas Eve?
I never really thought about it. In addition to “Stille Nacht” (Silent Night), there are English versions of other German Christmas carols we sang like “Oh Tannenbaum” (Oh Christmas Tree) and “Ihr Kinderlein Kommet” (Oh, Come, Little Children). But as noted, we only sang the German versions.
And, yep, we opened presents on Christmas eve, after singing Christmas carols and before having (a relatively simple) dinner. Our big annual Christmas feast was turkey on December 25 for lunch. Typically, we had left-overs and met again on December 26 for lunch. In Germany, December 26 is still part of the Christmas Holiday.
That’s fascinating re. the connections between the German and English carols.
It’s also interesting how you opened presents on Christmas Eve. We would and will only shred them open on Christmas morning.
We have two big spreads of food; one over Christmas Eve dinner before the Carols presentation and Christmas lunch like you.
In Colombia, the Christmas holidays extend to 8th January when the decorations are eventually taken down.
Are you doing anything special this year Christian?
I’m going back to Germany to spend the week of Christmas with my dad! 🙂
Well I wish you a lovely time with your father. Season’s blessings Christian!