Hark! The Herald Banjo Rings
Christmas 2008
December 6
"Angels We Have Heard on High" is a translation of the traditional French carol "Les Anges dans Nos Campagnes" which appears to have come from the Lorraine region of France in the 18th century. My arrangement for banjo was helped greatly by tablature from ezFolk.com. Though there are four verses, the Presbyterian Hymnal omits the last verse, as I do here.
Angels We Have Heard on High
Words: French traditional; translated by James Chadwick, 1860.
Music: GLORIA, French traditional; arranged by Edward Shippen Barnes, 1937.
Angels we have heard on high,
Sweetly singing o'er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.
Refrain
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?
Refrain
Come to Bethlehem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
Refrain
Sources and more information
- Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990.
- Oxford Book of Carols, 1964. (tune for "Angels from the Realms")
- Christmas Songs for Clawhammer Banjo
- Cyber Hymnal
- Hymns and Carols of Christmas