Olden times and ancient rhymes

The holiday season is once again upon us and with the month nearly being over, we here at ACME are proud to bring you the Fifteenth Annual Holiday Video Festival. This week could be the start of the holiday season for some people (most of the staff of ACME start working on the holidays well before Thanksgiving but after Halloween; we're not insane,) and you may be decorating the house this week.

The first theme this year - our first guest programmer, the birthday girl.


As always, she has an interesting mix this year:


Hark! the Herald Angels Sing -



The tune was originally composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840 for the second chorus "Gott ist Licht" ("God is Light"), of the cantata Festgesang ("Festival Song"). Festgesang was written by the German composer to commemorate Johann Gutenberg and the invention of printing. Mendelssohn died in 1847 and in 1855 Dr. William Cummings, who was an enthusiast of the German composer, put the words and music together in spite of the fact that Mendelssohn had made it clear that his music was not be used for sacred purposes. Additionally, the lyricist Wesley had envisaged his words being sung to the same tune as his Easter hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today. However it is Mendelssohn's tune that is generally used today.


Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle - Luciano Pavarotti



The melody and original lyrics for the hymn were written by Alphonsus Liguori, a prominent Neapolitan priest, who founded the Redemptorist missionary order. In 1732, while staying at Convent of the Consolation, he wrote the Christmas song that begins "You come down from the stars" entitled "Little song to Child Jesus". This version with Italian lyrics actually came after the original song written in Neapolitan entitled "For Jesus' birth" and that begins Quanno nascette Ninno (When the child was born) and sometimes referred to as the "Carol of the Bagpipers" (Canzone d'i zampognari). Since that time, the "Little song to Child Jesus" became a widely popular Christmas carol in Italy.


2000 miles - Chrissy Hines



Although the song was written after the Pretender’s original guitarist James Honeyman-Scott passed away in 1982, at the age of 25, according to our guest programmer, 'I chose the song because even though it not really a Christmas song, it has a holiday feeling to it.'


O Holy Night Ellie Goulding -



Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure, the author of the lyrics of the song, was not only a poet but a wine merchant and a professed atheist. The French title of the poem, Cantique de Noël is also the French title for the Dickens story A Christmas Carol.


Carol of the Bells  Trans-Siberian Orchestra –




Most people automatically associate Carol of the Bells with Christmas, but its origins tell a different story. It’s actually based on a traditional Ukrainian folk chant that celebrated the season of rebirth and anticipated a prosperous New Year. In 1916, composer Mykola Leontovich borrowed the four-note melody for a new choir song called Shchedryk, which debuted in the US at Carnegie Hall in 1921. When American choir director Peter Wilhousky heard the song, he wrote new lyrics and introduced his version, called Carol of the Bells, to holiday audiences.


Mary would like to wish all the readers, both old and new, a very Happy Holiday!



Demand Euphoria!