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Eva Elisabeth · (This post was last modified: 12-24-2023 06:05 AM by Eva Elisabeth.)

One song I like during this time of the year is "How shall I fitly greet thee" from Bach's Christmas Oratorio, based on Paul Gerhard's Advent hymn "Ah! Lord, how shall I meet Thee", which derived from "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded", a Christian Passion hymn composed by Hans Leo Hassler around 1600. The original lyrics were based on a Latin text by Bernard of Clairvaux, co-founder of the Knights Templar.

Bach used the melody on different words in his Christmas Oratorio, in the first part (# 5).

https://youtu.be/e_vG_9ecj5c?si=laogSRDWxHU9wF77

My favorite adaption however is the one by Paul Simon - not actually a Xmas song, but solemn and contemplative, which we use to be in Xmas season and towards the end of a year.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCmgKSUXH18

It was released in 1973, with Nixon plotting in the White House and the Vietnam War still two years from its end. The LA Times wrote that "it does not ring with the loud anger that runs through our time. It is mournful, as if unspooling in the candlelight of a day’s end" and praised the song for its tender, timeless nature, being a "visceral [reminder] of our history."
(For sources please see the Wikipedia articles on both songs.)

Merry Xmas to everyone btw! I hope you are good, and if not, I wish that things will get better for you in 2024!! Sorry for my silence, the past two years have been challenging due to injuries, subsequent surgeries and profession, and I am not that multi-tasking...

PS: My cat Friedrich sends best Season greetings to all Lincoln nerds out there, too!

PPS: Great article by Dave Taylor on Lincoln-related Xmas history:
https://lincolnconspirators.com/2023/12/...tmas-1883/