Les anges dans nos campagnes

translated as:
Angels we have heard on high

with GLORIA (IRIS)

I. Origins

This famous Christmas carol finds its roots in France, where it was first published in Choix de cantiques sur des airs nouveaux (Paris: Poussièlgue-Rusand, 1842 | Fig. 1) as “Les anges, dans nos campagnes” (“The angels in our countryside”), bearing the title “L’ écho des montagnes de Béthléem” (“The echo of the mountains of Bethlehem”). The subheading “Noël Languedocien” means “Languedoc Christmas,” referring to the southern coastline of France, bordering Spain along the Mediterranean Sea. The music was credited to “W.M.” but the vocal parts and accompaniment for the whole collection were arranged by Louis Lambillotte (1796–1855). This early version of the carol includes its familiar tune, set to ten stanzas of text.

Dutch scholar Jan Reinier Hendrik de Smidt is often cited as believing the carol dates to the eighteenth century, in his dissertation Les noëls et la tradition populaire (Groningen: H.J. Paris, 1932). The juxtaposition of French in the stanzas and Latin in the refrain makes this a macaronic carol.

II. English Translation & Variants

This French carol entered English hymnody via a translation by James Chadwick (1813–1882), first printed in The Holy Family Hymns (London: Richardson & Son, 1860 | Fig. 2). Notice how Chadwick’s text (credited to him in the index) was iambic, whereas the well-known version in common use is trochaic, meaning this original translation had an extra unstressed syllable at the beginning of each line. Accordingly, the version of the melody given in the companion tune book included pickup notes to accommodate Chadwick’s text.

Fig. 2. The Holy Family Hymns (London: Richardson & Son, 1860).

Chadwick’s text was adopted into The Crown of Jesus: A Complete Catholic Manual of Devotion, Doctrine, and Instruction (London: Richardson & Son, 1862 | Fig. 3), and revised by an unknown hand. In the first three stanzas, the editor(s) worked mostly to fix the meter, making minimal changes, but in the fourth stanza, the editorial touch extended to the rhyme scheme, yielding a very different text in lines two and four.

The revised version of Chadwick’s text then appeared in an edition of the manual with music prepared by Henri Friedrich Hémy (1818–1888), The Crown of Jesus Music (London: Thomas Richardson & Sons, 1864 | Fig. 4). This arrangement was written for a single vocal line (the melody) with a simple chordal accompaniment.

Another version of the fourth stanza, more closely reflecting Chadwick’s original text, appeared as early as 1885 in St. Dominic’s Hymn-Book (NY: Catholic Publication Society, 1885 | Fig. 5), but could be older. Notice also the change in the last line of the third stanza, “Christ the Lord, the new-born King.” This text continues to be repeated in many other collections.

The common change in the second stanza from “rapturous strain” to “joyous strains” can be found as early as 1913 in The De La Salle Hymnal for Catholic Schools and Choirs (NY: La Salle Bureau, 1913).

III. Music Arrangements

Many hymnals and collections reprint a harmonization by American composer and church musician Edward Shippen Barnes (1887–1958), made for the New Church Hymnal (NY: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1937 | Fig. 6). This arrangement has a distinctive contrapuntal texture, especially in the refrain. The textual alterations shown here by Earl Marlatt (“Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing through the night”) have been reprinted in other collections, but his text has not been as widespread as Barnes’ arrangement. 

Barnes’ arrangement is actually an extension of an older arrangement by Episcopal musician Charles Hutchins (1838–1920), originally published in The Parish Choir, No. 543 (11 Nov. 1891 | Fig. 7), a periodical Hutchins edited. Barnes had used Hutchins’ harmonization note-for-note, but where Hutchins used only one Gloria in the refrain, Barnes completed the arrangement to fill two. Hutchins’ arrangement was repeated in his Carols Old and Carols New (1916).

The Barnes/Hutchins version of the tune differs from the original French tune in the way the second and fourth phrases descend back to 1 rather than to 3. This version of the tune has been traced to R.R. Chope’s Carols for Use in Church (London: Metzler & Co., 1875 | Fig. 8), where it was set to “When the crimson sun had set” by George Peirce Grantham, music arranged by Anglican composer Samuel Stevenson Greatheed (1813–1887). Greatheed’s arrangement foreshadows some later harmonizations in the way the refrain begins with a descending bass line (as in Warren M. Angell’s arrangement for the 1956 Baptist Hymnal). Grantham’s text seems to have been inspired in part by (and intended to replace) Chadwick’s text, seen in the way it uses some phrases such as “gladsome strain” and “bended knee.”

In hymnals, the tune generally goes by two names. GLORIA traces as early as the Mennonite Hymnary (1940). The name IRIS comes from its association with the hymn “Angels from the realms of glory” by James Montgomery (1771–1854); his hymn was first published in a paper he edited, the Iris (24 Dec. 1816). The pairing of Montgomery’s text with the French carol tune comes from the Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: University Press, 1928), named IRIS by the editors of Songs of Praise, Enlarged Edition (1931).

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
11 December 2019

Related Resources:

“Angels from the realms of glory,” Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: University Press, 1928), pp. 240–241,

Jan Reinier Hendrik de Smidt, Les noëls et la tradition populaire (Groningen: H.J. Paris, 1932).

“Angels we have heard on high,” The Hymnal 1940 Companion, 3rd rev. ed. (NY: Church Pension Fund, 1962), pp. 33–34.

William Reynolds, “Angels we have heard on high,” Hymns of Our Faith (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1964), pp. 16–17.

Hugh Keyte & Andrew Parrott, “Les anges dans nos camapgnes,” New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: University Press, 1992), pp. 634–638.

Carlton R. Young, “Angels we have heard on high,” Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993), pp. 214–215.

Raymond Glover & David W. Music, “Angels we have heard on high,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 184–186.

Carl P. Daw Jr. “Angels we have heard on high,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), pp. 114–115.

“Angels we have heard on high,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/angels_we_have_heard_on_high

J.R. Watson, “Angels we have heard on high,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/a/angels-we-have-heard-on-high

Douglas Anderson, “Angels we have heard on high,” Hymns and Carols of Christmas:
http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/angels_we_have_heard_on_high_1.htm