Your Branches Green Delight Us!
Let's talk about one of the best things about Christmas: Christmas trees. This song actually came as a request of sorts from a teacher friend of mine, Mallory. Thanks, Mallory!
A couple of weeks ago, my mother and I were driving around Gilman, waiting for our pizza to be ready, and we were enjoying the very few houses with Christmas lights. I'm not even talking about hoping to see decked out houses set to music. A simple lighted wreath on a door, some lights around the eaves, candles in the windows. I'm not picky, I just like Christmas lights. We were sorely disappointed, but what struck me most was that there were so many houses without Christmas trees in their windows, either!
I love seeing people's trees through their windows. I love that each tree is inherently unique--that no two trees can actually be the same. Real or artificial, short and bunchy or tall and scrawny, colored lights or white lights, garland or tinsel, a star on top or nothing, matching ornaments or a hodge-podge of ornaments, store-bought ornaments or homemade. The list could go on and on and on. And what's under the tree? A tree skirt? Presents, perhaps? Nothing until Christmas Eve? A train? A nativity?
Today's song is O Tannenbaum. As I have been doing during this series, I dug a little into its background. The song was written in 1824 by a German organist, Ernst Anschutz, and was actually based on a 16th century Silesian folk song called Ach Tannenbaum. Anschutz added his own verses to the folk song. What is interesting is that it isn't actually a Christmas song--at least originally. The verses in the song refer to the evergreen tree's {a tannenbaum is a fir tree}ever-greeness as qualities of faithfulness and constancy. "Not only green when summer's here, but in the coldest time of year." There are also two English versions of the text. Regardless, though, the lyrics all have one thing in common: the celebration of the tree's beautiful green foliage all through the year.
The version of the song I have selected is sung in its native German by the amazing vocalist Nat King Cole. One thing I love about his voice is just how clear and effortless it is. As I mentioned yesterday, he doesn't feel the need to do what so many artists these days do--no vibrato, no flourishes, no crazy deviating from the composer's original melody. Pure, simple, and just breathtaking. Enjoy!
~Stay gold!
A couple of weeks ago, my mother and I were driving around Gilman, waiting for our pizza to be ready, and we were enjoying the very few houses with Christmas lights. I'm not even talking about hoping to see decked out houses set to music. A simple lighted wreath on a door, some lights around the eaves, candles in the windows. I'm not picky, I just like Christmas lights. We were sorely disappointed, but what struck me most was that there were so many houses without Christmas trees in their windows, either!
I love seeing people's trees through their windows. I love that each tree is inherently unique--that no two trees can actually be the same. Real or artificial, short and bunchy or tall and scrawny, colored lights or white lights, garland or tinsel, a star on top or nothing, matching ornaments or a hodge-podge of ornaments, store-bought ornaments or homemade. The list could go on and on and on. And what's under the tree? A tree skirt? Presents, perhaps? Nothing until Christmas Eve? A train? A nativity?
Today's song is O Tannenbaum. As I have been doing during this series, I dug a little into its background. The song was written in 1824 by a German organist, Ernst Anschutz, and was actually based on a 16th century Silesian folk song called Ach Tannenbaum. Anschutz added his own verses to the folk song. What is interesting is that it isn't actually a Christmas song--at least originally. The verses in the song refer to the evergreen tree's {a tannenbaum is a fir tree}ever-greeness as qualities of faithfulness and constancy. "Not only green when summer's here, but in the coldest time of year." There are also two English versions of the text. Regardless, though, the lyrics all have one thing in common: the celebration of the tree's beautiful green foliage all through the year.
The version of the song I have selected is sung in its native German by the amazing vocalist Nat King Cole. One thing I love about his voice is just how clear and effortless it is. As I mentioned yesterday, he doesn't feel the need to do what so many artists these days do--no vibrato, no flourishes, no crazy deviating from the composer's original melody. Pure, simple, and just breathtaking. Enjoy!
~Stay gold!
Comments
Post a Comment