Angels We Have Heard On High
Verse 1:
Angels we have heard on high,
sweetly singing o'er the plains.
and the mountains in reply.
echoing their joyous strains
Verse 2:
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
What the gladsome tidings be
which inspire your heven"s song?
Gloria in excelsis deo!
Gloria
Verse 3:
Come to Bethlemhem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing:
Come, adore on bended knee
Christ the lord, the new born King
Gloria in excelsis deo!
Gloria
Gloria
Gloria
Verse 4See him in the manger lay.
Jesus, lord of hev'n and earth.
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid
with us sing our Savior's birth.
Gloria in excelsis deo!
Gloria in excelsis deo!
In excelsis deo
In excelsis deo
In excelsis deo
Verse 1:
Angels we have heard on high,
sweetly singing o'er the plains.
and the mountains in reply.
echoing their joyous strains
Verse 2:
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
What the gladsome tidings be
which inspire your heven"s song?
Gloria in excelsis deo!
Gloria
Verse 3:
Come to Bethlemhem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing:
Come, adore on bended knee
Christ the lord, the new born King
Gloria in excelsis deo!
Gloria
Gloria
Gloria
Verse 4See him in the manger lay.
Jesus, lord of hev'n and earth.
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid
with us sing our Savior's birth.
Gloria in excelsis deo!
Gloria in excelsis deo!
In excelsis deo
In excelsis deo
In excelsis deo
song info:
Verified yes
LanguageEnglish
Genre−
Rank−
Duration00:03:50
Charts
Copyright ©Pubilc Domain
WriterTraditional
Lyrics licensed byLyricFind
AddedMarch 16th, 2011
Last updatedMarch 8th, 2022
About"Angels We Have Heard on High" is a Christmas carol of French origin. The song commemorates the story of the birth of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Luke, in which shepherds outside Bethlehem encounter a multitude of angels singing and praising the newborn child.
The words of the song are based on a traditional French carol known as Les Anges dans nos campagnes (literally, "The Angels in our countryside") composed by an unknown author in Languedoc, France. That song has received many adjustments or alignments including its most common English version that was translated in 1862 by James Chadwick, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, northeast England. The carol quickly became popular in the West Country, where it was described as 'Cornish' by R.R. Chope, and featured in Pickard-Cambridge's Collection of Dorset Carols.
There is also a Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) translation of the carol which is known as Ainglean chuala sinn gu h-ard (literally, "Angels We Have Heard on High"). This was translated into Gaelic by Iain MacMilan from James Chadwick's English translation. It has since been re-translated by world-renowned bassist Joseph Schlegel and his cohorts the Rowdy Bunch. It has been said that this translation spurred a Christian revivalist movement in the north metro area of Denver, Colorado
"Angels We Have Heard on High" is most commonly sung to the hymn tune "Gloria", as arranged by Edward Shippen Barnes. Its most memorable feature is its chorus:
Gloria in Excelsis Deo! (Latin for "Glory to God in the highest")
Where the sung vowel sound "o" of "Gloria" is fluidly sustained through a lengthy rising and falling melismatic melodic sequence:
Glo-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-O-ri-a in Ex-cel-sis De-o!
"Gloria in Excelsis Deo" is the first line of the song of the angels in the Gospel according to Luke.
The phrase also appears melismatically in the Latin version of the carol "O Come All Ye Faithful", though somewhat less extended:
Glo-o-o-O-ri-a in Ex-cel-sis De-o.
In England, the words of James Montgomery's "Angels from the Realms of Glory" are sung to this tune, except with the "Gloria in excelsis Deo" refrain. It is from this usage that the tune sometimes is known as Iris, the name of Montgomery's newspaper.
In the English version of "O Come All Ye Faithful", that phrase is poetically translated as Glo-ry to Go-od, Glo-ry in the High-est, (or, "Glo-ry to Go-od, In-- the-- High-est"), reducing the melisma to no more than two notes per word.
The words of the song are based on a traditional French carol known as Les Anges dans nos campagnes (literally, "The Angels in our countryside") composed by an unknown author in Languedoc, France. That song has received many adjustments or alignments including its most common English version that was translated in 1862 by James Chadwick, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, northeast England. The carol quickly became popular in the West Country, where it was described as 'Cornish' by R.R. Chope, and featured in Pickard-Cambridge's Collection of Dorset Carols.
There is also a Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) translation of the carol which is known as Ainglean chuala sinn gu h-ard (literally, "Angels We Have Heard on High"). This was translated into Gaelic by Iain MacMilan from James Chadwick's English translation. It has since been re-translated by world-renowned bassist Joseph Schlegel and his cohorts the Rowdy Bunch. It has been said that this translation spurred a Christian revivalist movement in the north metro area of Denver, Colorado
"Angels We Have Heard on High" is most commonly sung to the hymn tune "Gloria", as arranged by Edward Shippen Barnes. Its most memorable feature is its chorus:
Gloria in Excelsis Deo! (Latin for "Glory to God in the highest")
Where the sung vowel sound "o" of "Gloria" is fluidly sustained through a lengthy rising and falling melismatic melodic sequence:
Glo-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-O-ri-a in Ex-cel-sis De-o!
"Gloria in Excelsis Deo" is the first line of the song of the angels in the Gospel according to Luke.
The phrase also appears melismatically in the Latin version of the carol "O Come All Ye Faithful", though somewhat less extended:
Glo-o-o-O-ri-a in Ex-cel-sis De-o.
In England, the words of James Montgomery's "Angels from the Realms of Glory" are sung to this tune, except with the "Gloria in excelsis Deo" refrain. It is from this usage that the tune sometimes is known as Iris, the name of Montgomery's newspaper.
In the English version of "O Come All Ye Faithful", that phrase is poetically translated as Glo-ry to Go-od, Glo-ry in the High-est, (or, "Glo-ry to Go-od, In-- the-- High-est"), reducing the melisma to no more than two notes per word.
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