Angels We Have Heard on High

Representative Text

1 Angels we have heard on high,
sweetly singing o'er the plains,
and the mountains in reply
echoing their joyous strains:

Refrain:
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

2 Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
which inspire your heav'nly song? [Refrain]

3 Come to Bethlehem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing;
come, adore on bended knee
Christ the Lord, the new-born King. [Refrain]

4 See Him in a manger laid,
Jesus, Lord of heav'n and earth!
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
sing with us our Savior's birth. [Refrain]

Source: Psalms and Hymns to the Living God #224

Text Information

First Line: Angels we have heard on high
Title: Angels We Have Heard on High
French Title: Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes
Meter: 7.7.7.7 with refrain
Source: Traditional French carol, 18th cent.
Language: English
Refrain First Line: Gloria in excelsis Deo
Notes: Spanish translation: See "Angeles cantando están" by George Paul Simmonds
Copyright: Public Domain
Liturgical Use: Opening Hymns

Notes

Scripture References:
all st. = Luke 2:8-15

"Les anges" is a French noel (from the Languedoc region) believed to date from the eighteenth century. Its text and tune were first published in the Nouveau Recueil de Cantiques in 1855. The English translation originated as a free imitation from the French by James Chadwick, which was adapted by Henri Hemy in his Roman Catholic collection, Crown of Jesus Music (1862). Of the original eight-stanza French text, stanzas 1, 2, and 4 are included.

The Christmas gospel in Luke 2:8-15 is the basis for the text. The hymn's refrain, "Gloria in excelsis Deo" is the first part of the angels' chorus in Luke 2: 14; it is one of the few Latin phrases in common use in Protestant churches.

Liturgical Use:
Christmas season; in "carols from many lands" choral services.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1987

=====================

Angels we have heard on high. [Christmas. ] This appears to be a Christmas Carol. It is found in the Crown of Jesus, 1862, No. 138. Other forms are:—
1. The angels we have heard on high. In the Holy Family Hymns, 1860, No. 9, marked as by the Rev. J. Chadwick.
2. Bright angels we have heard on high, In the Parochial Hymn Book, 1880, No. 38.
3. Bright angel hosts are heard on high. In R. R. Chope's Carols, 1875, No, 30, marked as "Cornish, alt. by R. R. C."
We are unable to say which is the original form of the text. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

Tune

GLORIA (French)

GLORIA is the French noel tune traditionally associated with this text. The popularity of this carol stems from its refrain–all those cascading phrases in which human beings imitate the angels' chorus. Try using the refrain by itself as a short choral introit during the Christmas season, perhaps w…

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