Victorian Christmas Anachronisms

The 19th century brought not on the rise of distinctively English hymns and carols, but also anachronistic characterization of Bethlehem winters. @LutheranSatire has been particularly caustic in its evaluation, with Pastor Hans Fiene (in his alter ego M. Luther) ridiculing two Victorian gentlemen as they compose “Inferior Anglican Christmas Hymns”.

On the one hand, the enthusiasm of Victorian England was admirable, as a single hymnal — Hymns Ancient & Modern — became the first in Britain (AFAIK in the world) so sell over 8 million copies in less than 50 years (Long 1971; Orford 2017). Nowhere was this enthusiasm greater than at Christmas. As the “Victorian Era” website says

What better way to get into the festive spirit then singing a Victorian Christmas carol. During this era, they were very into joyful choruses of Christmas songs and had revived old medieval songs whilst adding their own spin and writing new ones!

These were meant for both the relaxed occasions such as when singing amongst friends and family and the other songs were meant for more religious, respectful occasions.

And some of the 19th century carols, including many of those by J.M. Neale, were translations or reharmonizations of ancient or medieval hymns that were centuries old. If there was snow involved — as in Neale’s “Good King Wenceslas” — it was in Britain and not 31° N of Bethlehem.

Other winter excesses cannot be traced to the Victorians. This includes the “in kaltem winter” (“cold of winter”) in the 16th century carol “Es ist ein Ros” (“Lo, how a rose e'er blooming” to Anglicans) or the 20th century American secular ditties like “Let it Snow!” (1945) or “Frosty the Snowman” (1950).

Nonetheless, by searching through Hymnary and my Anglican hymnals, I found exactly four Anglican hymns that, to a greater or lesser degree, might attract the scorn of Pastor Luther Fiene. (Although one might be hypocritical for a 21st century LCMS pastor to attack).

1. In the Bleak Midwinter

This poem by English poet Christina Rossetti was commissioned by and published by an American magazine in 1872. It is by far her most popular work (Beall 2015). As a hymn, it has been published in at least 70 hymnals. None of these are by the Missouri or Wisconsin synod Lutherans, but it does appear in the latest (2006) and most ecumenical ELCA hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship.

The first stanza is the one that would cool any appreciation by Pr. Fiene:

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

As a hymn, it first appeared in The English Hymnal (1906), with a new tune written for this text: Cranham by Gustav Holst. (Yes, that Gustav Holst.) According to Hymnary.org, it accounts for 63/70 of the hymnals printing of the text; six are Castle by Don Cason and one Adventist hymnal that used Uinta by the hymnal’s editor.

However, not found in any hymnal is the 1909 setting of the hymn by Harold Darke — instead in choral anthem books. However, it is a regular favorite of the King’s College Cambridge annual Lessons & Carols service — according to David Sinden, of the last 23 broadcasts, 11 had Darke and two Holst. It was also once voted the best Christmas carol of all time.

2. The Snow Lay on the Ground

For the first Sunday after Christmas, we sang “The Snow Lay on the Ground” (Hymnal 1940: 41; Hymnal 1982: 110; Book of Common Praise 2017: 81; New English Hymnal: 28). Hymnary.org says it appears in 39 hymnals, and quotes Julian (1907) in summarizing its origins as

This appears to be a West of England traditional carol, and is given as such in R. R. Chope's Carols, 1875, No. 44, where it begins "The snow lay deep upon the ground." In the Crown of Jesus, 1862, No. 146, it begins “The snow lay on the ground" and is marked, with regard to the tune, as "Christmas Carol, sung in Rome by the Pifferari from the Abruzzi Mountains." The text of 1862 is in the Arundel Hymnal, 1902, and many others. 

The 39 hymnals include Episcopalian and Catholic Hymnals, but neither Hymns A&M (1861-1904) or The English Hymnal (1906) nor any Lutheran hymnal. Again, it’s the first verse that would boil Fiene’s blood:

The snow lay on the ground,
The stars shone bright,
When Christ our Lord was born
On Christmas night.
Venite adoremus Dominum;
Venite adoremus Dominum.

3. See Amid the Winter's Snow

Surpisingly popular is “See Amid the Winter’s Snow,” penned in 1858 by Anglo-Catholic (turned Roman Catholic) hymnist Edward Caswall. Among the 140 hymnals listed by Hymnary, it’s found in the Anglican hymnals of Canada and Ireland, the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal, and (natch) numerous Catholic hymnals. (But no Episcopalian or American Anglican hymnals).

Again, the first stanza fits the problematic pattern:

See, amid the winter's snow,
born for us on earth below,
see the tender Lamb appears,
promised from eternal years.
Hail! Thou ever-blessed morn!Hail, redemption's happy dawn!Sing through all Jerusalem,"Christ is born in Bethlehem."

However, it appears that Luther’s influence is limited among the German-American Lutherans, as it is hymn #373 Pastor Fiene’s favorite hymnal — the current (2006) LCMS Lutheran Service Book.

4. ’Twas in the Winter

Here my ignorance is more excusable, as this 1871 text by Irish clergyman Rev. Charles Ingham Black appears in only five hymnals. The most prominent is nearly 150 years ago, from John Stainer’s Christmas Carols New and Old.

I doubt our fussy German-American pastor has heard of this hymn, but if he did, again he’d turn straight to the first verse

’Twas in the winter cold, when earth
Was desolate and wild,
That angels welcomed at His birth
The everlasting Child.
From realms of ever bright’ning day,
And from His throne above
He came with humankind to stay,
All lowliness and love.

Summary

I don’t think four hymns support Pastor Fiene’s claim for a trend for Anglican anachronistic Christmas carols, particularly given there lack of popularity:

• None was published in the dominant Victorian hymnal, Hymns Ancient & Modern, during Victoria’s life — either the 1861 or 1889 editions.
• Only one (#1) was found in The English Hymnal, the Edwardian collection of Victorian hymns published in 1906.
• Only two (#1,#2) were published the American Anglican/Episcopal hymnals of the 20th and 21st centuries. 
• A third hymn (#3)— as bad as the others — was selected by his LCMS colleagues to be published in his preferred hymnal

So to paraphrase an English playwright back: methinks the pastor doth protest too much.

The most influential 19th century Anglican hymnwriter, John Mason Neale, did not write any Christmas carols (other than Wenceslas) that survive to this day; his best-remembered hymns are for Easter and Palm Sunday. However, his most reprinted Advent hymn — a translation of a medieval Latin text written centuries before Herr Doktor Luther was born — contains exactly the sort of timeless truths Pastor Fiene would espouse.

In its current form (from the 1861 edition of Hymns A&M) , “O come, O come, Emmanuel” is the second hymn in my favorite hymnal (#357 in Pastor Fiene’s hymnal)

Oh, come, Oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

References

• Beall, Mary Kay, “In the Bleak Midwinter,” The Hymn, 56, 4 (Autumn 2015), 47-49.
• Julian, John, Dictionary of Hymnology,  London: Murray, 1907. URL: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/julian_j/
• Long, Kenneth R., The Music of the English Church (New York: St. Martin’s, 1971), p. 334
• Orford, Barry A., “Music and Hymnody” in Stewart J. Brown, James Pereiro, and Peter Nockles, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the Oxford Movement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 376-386.
• Christmas Carols New and Old, by Henry R. Bramley & John Stainer (London: Novello, Ewer & Co., 1871). URL: https://archive.org/details/christmascarolsn00staiiala

Update: See further discussion of these four hymn on Dec. 30