Classic Hymns and Their Stories
Puzzle 23 · The Wesleys and Methodist Song · Page 39 in print
Hark the Herald Angels
Its usual melody comes from Mendelssohn’s 1840 Festgesang, marking the printing press’s 400th anniversary.
Jump to a word
The words
Cantata
Musical form of Mendelssohn’s Festgesang.
Library of Congress: “Hark! The Herald Angels (opens a new tab)
Cummings
William Hayman Cummings, who first paired the text with Mendelssohn’s melody in 1855. Arranger who made the first text-tune pairing.
Library of Congress: “Hark! The Herald Angels (opens a new tab) · Hymnology Archive: Hark the Herald (opens a new tab)
Dublin
City of the 1749 collection that first printed the hymn with music.
Festgesang
Mendelssohn’s 1840 cantata, the source of the melody.
Library of Congress: “Hark! The Herald Angels (opens a new tab)
Gutenberg
Inventor of printing, whose anniversary Festgesang honoured. The festival that produced the tune.
Leipzig
City where Festgesang was first performed in 1840.
Male chorus
The men’s choir Festgesang was written for.
Martin Madan
The editor of the 1760 text.
Mendelssohn
Composer of the 1840 Festgesang melody. Composer of the usual melody (not the arranger).
Library of Congress: “Hark! The Herald Angels (opens a new tab)
Printing press
Invention commemorated by the 1840 Festgesang.
Library of Congress: “Hark! The Herald Angels (opens a new tab)
Sheet music
Format of the 1856 Ewer publication of Cummings’s setting.
Tabernacle
Whitefield’s London Tabernacle church, begun in 1753. Whitefield’s church in the year he revised the hymn.
Timpani
Kettledrums in the Festgesang scoring. Instrument in the tune’s original setting.
Waltham Abbey
Cummings’s congregation, for which he adapted the tune. Where the pairing was first used.
Welkin
Old poetic word for the sky, in Wesley’s original opening. The key word Whitefield later replaced.
Sources
- “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”: An Illustrated HistoryLibrary of Congress
- Hark the Herald AngelsHymnology Archive
- FestgesangWikipedia