In the 1740s, it was neither safe nor popular to be Roman Catholic in England. John Francis Wade was an English composer who met many of his exiled countrymen, persecuted Catholics, while working in France. Moved by their spiritual traditions, he penned the Latin song Adeste Fidelis (“Come, faithful ones”). Ironically O Come, All Ye Faithful quickly became a favorite… Read more »
Father Gregory Boyle is the founder and director of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, a widely acclaimed gang intervention program. It’s a ministry that involves considerable heartache. As of 2017 and the release of his book Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, Boyle had presided at the funerals of 220 gang members, most of whom had died… Read more »
Tennessee Williams’ most famous play, A Streetcar Named Desire, debuted on Broadway in 1947. A journalist who was able to find his way backstage asked one of the performers how he would summarize the play. The actor replied, “It’s about a guy who comes to take a woman to an insane asylum.” The fellow who talked to the journalist just… Read more »
During the heart of the Depression, American folklorist John Jacob Niles was sampling original music of Appalachian hill folk. While passing through the rustic town of Murphy, North Carolina, in July 1933, Niles paused to attend a revivalist rally. The Morgan family, traveling revivalists, had been in town for a few days. They had no money and no place to… Read more »
In an 1883 collection of Christmas carols, Away in a Manger was called “Luther’s Cradle Hymn.” This note followed: “Composed by Martin Luther for his children and still sung by German mothers to their little ones.” Nice try. Today we know that James Murray of Cincinnati composed the tune in the late 1800s. No one has positively identified the author of the lullaby… Read more »
As recently as 125 years ago, some of the world’s brightest thinkers solemnly declared human beings would never fly. They were wrong. About the same time, engineers confidently predicted that the long-distance transmission of pictures was contrary to the laws of physics. They were wrong, too. These days science fiction fans are desperately hoping that the world’s most eminent physicists… Read more »
People from all walks of life and every kind of circumstance end up writing Christmas carols. Even burned-out preachers. In 1849, a Massachusetts pastor named Edmund Sears suffered an emotional breakdown. He wasn’t just bone-weary from laboring for seven years to lead a pair of Unitarian congregations. His heart was heavy because of the social upheaval that had turned Europe… Read more »
The 19th century French composer Adolphe Charles Adam wrote more than fifty ballets and operas. Most are unremembered. But no one looks past Adam’s O Holy Night, the single most cherished solo number of the season. In France it’s known simply as Cantique de Noel, or the Christmas Song. An American pastor, John S. Dwight, wrote the English words that… Read more »
The typical nativity scene includes Mary, Joseph, Jesus, shepherds, and Magi – not to mention a cow, a few sheep, and perhaps a humble-looking donkey. One prominent character in the original Christmas accounts, however, never makes the cut. That would be King Herod. Or as he liked to call himself, Herod the Great. The man who ruled Israel for almost… Read more »
When you think about, I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In is a rather unusual Christmas carol. There are no boats in the accounts of Jesus’ birth. The Jews of Bible times, in fact, were generally terrified of open water. Only fishermen routinely set sail, and that was on the comparatively placid lake called the Sea of Galilee. One… Read more »
