O Holy Night…..
The tenth track on the disc ‘It Came Upon The Midnight Clear and other carols’ is ‘O Holy Night’ (also known as ‘Cantique de Noel’). It is a carol written in 1847 by Adolphe Adam. Adam is now best known for his ballet ‘Giselle’ as well as being the teacher and mentor of Leo Delibes.
It is a setting of a poem by the poet and wine merchant Placide Cappeau entitled ‘Minuit, Chretiens’ (’Midnight, Christians’). It is an impassioned piece telling of the birth of Christ and salvation of mankind and is perfectly suited to the operatic treatment given to it by Adam.
This arrangement was taken from the full orchestral version and is therefore thick in texture (with as many as seven parts occurring simultaneously at times). It remains faithful to the original without any embellishment and provides a contrast to the more traditional melodies on offer elsewhere in the disc.
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