Interestingly, the TUNE for this enormously popular carol has a similar alteration history. The tune name is Mendelssohn, after its famous composer. But Mendelssohn did not compose it for the carol. He wrote it for little secular text celebrating a major anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of moveable-type printing. Where both Wesley and Whitefield have us sing in the first verse “Joyful all ye nations, rise”, the text set by Mendelssohn had “Gutenberg, der deutsche Mann!” After the celebration, Mendelssohn wrote to a friend that he thought the tune was a success and might find other uses. “But,” he said, “it would never do to sacred words.” Little did he know 🤗
Yes, now that you mention it, I recall reading of Mendelssohn's original version before, but I forgot about it. Thanks for the reply! Merry Almost Christmas!
Interestingly, the TUNE for this enormously popular carol has a similar alteration history. The tune name is Mendelssohn, after its famous composer. But Mendelssohn did not compose it for the carol. He wrote it for little secular text celebrating a major anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of moveable-type printing. Where both Wesley and Whitefield have us sing in the first verse “Joyful all ye nations, rise”, the text set by Mendelssohn had “Gutenberg, der deutsche Mann!” After the celebration, Mendelssohn wrote to a friend that he thought the tune was a success and might find other uses. “But,” he said, “it would never do to sacred words.” Little did he know 🤗
Yes, now that you mention it, I recall reading of Mendelssohn's original version before, but I forgot about it. Thanks for the reply! Merry Almost Christmas!