Re: Jewish origin of a Xmas carol?

[Joel Bresler <jbresler...>]

I thought the song had a Spanish origin. But a correspondent on the EM
mailing list offers:

Return-Path: sheilab (at) tiac(dot)net
X-Sender: sheilab (at) pop(dot)tiac(dot)net
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 13:44:36 -0400
To: Joel Bresler <jbresler (at) ultra(dot)net>
From: sheilab (at) tiac(dot)net (Sheila Beardslee Bosworth)
Subject: Re: Origin of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel"

The SHORTER New Oxford Book of Carols says 13th c.?
Bibliotheque National MS.

The text is based on the "O" antiphons sung at vespers on
the [Advent] days leading up to Christmas.

It was 1st published in 1854 from a lost source, and is not
known whether the melody was originally set to this text.
That question was laid to rest in the 1960s when a 2-voiced
version was found in a processional probably copied for a
French [medieval?] nunnery


The Episcopal Hymnal Companion (a great source for the histories
of hymn texts & melodies).  Thomas Helmore -- the 1854
publisher above -- states that the MELODY of Veni Emmanuel is
from a French missal in the National Library at Lisbon, Portugal;
however no identical melody has been found there.

Happy to send you a copy of the notes if you need them.

I'll bet French, rather than Spanish source...

Sheila Beardslee Bosworth        sheilab (at) tiac(dot)net
Editor, Boston Early Music News
>>next BEMN Deadline  Dec. 26 for Jan 15 Spring Preview issue
    WEB Calendar  http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/concerts/bemn/

29 Main Street, Acton MA 01720-3505
VOX  978/263.9926
FAX  978/263.2366



At 06:16 PM 12/22/98 -0500, you wrote:
>At 01:01 PM 12/22/98 -0700, robert cohen wrote:
>
>>A cantor friend of many years ago used to say that he thought, or maybe
>thought he had learned somewhere, that "Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel" (which,
>irrelevantly, I find truly beautiful, though I pay no attn to the
>content--as opposed to the _sound_  (as in poetry) of the words) had some
>Jewish origin. 
>
>
>Well, I would have said that it came pretty directly from plain
>song/gregorian chant.  However, I think you could probably trace gregorian
>chant back to cantillation, if you were determined to do so.
>
>
>Sherry Mayrent
>Wholesale Klezmer Band
>www.crocker.com/~ganeydn
>
>


Joel Bresler
250 E. Emerson Rd.
Lexington, MA 02420 USA

Home:   781-862-2432
Home Office:    781-862-4104
FAX:            781-862-0498
Cell:           781-622-0309
Email:          jbresler (at) ultra(dot)net