The Immigrants' Christmas Concert-Songs of Peace in a Time of War

Pat Young

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Featured Book Reviewer
Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Location
Long Island, NY
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Tonight we begin our Immigrants' Christmas Concert, bringing you the songs immigrants of the Civil War Era brought with them to America. Every few hours we will post a new song to brighten the dark of night.
 
Stille Nacht, or Silent Night, was popular among German and Austrian immigrants at the time of the Civil War. Only translated into English in 1859, it was not yet the iconic Christmas hymn it would soon become. UNESCO has declared Silent Night a vital part of the world’s heritage.

 
Stille Nacht, or Silent Night, was popular among German and Austrian immigrants at the time of the Civil War. Only translated into English in 1859, it was not yet the iconic Christmas hymn it would soon become. UNESCO has declared Silent Night a vital part of the world’s heritage.

My mother, being German, taught us this when we were younger :smile: Her mother was a chorister in Germany.
 
Los Peces En el Rio (The Fish in the River) is a Christmas song sung throughout Mexico and Central America that is as popular today as it was among Nuevo Mexicanos at the time of the Civil War. The song is about the joy of nature at the birth of Jesus. Even the fish in the river dance at his birth. The lyrics are translated on-screen in this beautiful acapella version.

 
My mother, being German, taught us this when we were younger :smile: Her mother was a chorister in Germany.


Elementary school teacher taught us, words slightly different in PA Dutch dialect. It wasn't because of the current, fuddled thinking on our Amish, German immigrants melted new and old into an astonishingly vibrant culture. Frequently makes me think of the melting pot and how lucky we are in this area to be so enriched. Who learns Christmas carols in school, in the language of immigrants? We did.
 
Our fourth Christmas Carol brought by Civil War Era immigrants to America is from Poland. Jezus Malusieńki is a lovely song that extends a mother's pity to a poor, cold, baby Jesus. Here is a translation of the lyrics:

Baby Jesus is crying

In the cold He is weeping,

For the winter frosts are biting

Thro’ the hay which enfolds Him,

For the winter frosts are biting

Round His head as He’s lying.

No soft down for His head,

Only hay for His bed,

Tho’ His mother hugs and holds Him,

And the shepherds adore Him,

Yet the winter frosts are biting

As wise men by star are led.

 
Our next Christmas Carol from immigrants during the Civil War is one of my favorite songs of all time, Il Est Né. It is a French song that had been sung for decades before the war, but which was first published in 1862. It is a song of unabashed celebration in both words and music. Let me know how you like it.

Sing aloud the child is born, / This is a time for celebrating

Sing aloud the child is born / Now the day at last is here

We have waited four thousand years, / Now the day is at last upon us.

We have waited four thousand years, / Now the day at last is here.

Chorus

In a stable poor he lay, / Only a manger for a cradle.

In a stable poor he lay, / Only a bed of straw and hay.

Chorus

Shepherd and kings from lands afar / Join the joyful celebration.

Shepherds and kings from lands afar, / Guided by the shining star.

 
The next of our immigrant Christmas Carols comes from Cornwall in the UK. It was likely sung in the Cornish language by immigrants from that region. There were no Cornish regiments in the war, but the men of Cornwall joined units organized in the mining regions of the United States where many of them settled.

 
Our last song is Adeste Fidelis. Said to have been based on a prayer composed by Catholic monks hundreds of years before the Civil War, this beautiful Latin song was popular among both German and Irish Catholic immigrants. In the 1850s it was translated into English as “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”.

 
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