Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), composed the
words to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" on
December 25th 1864. "Glory to God in the Highest, and
on Earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14). The
carol was originally a poem, "Christmas Bells,"
containing seven stanzas. Two stanzas were omitted,
which contained references to the American Civil War,
thus giving us the carol in its present form. The poem
gave birth to the carol, "I Heard the Bells on
Christmas Day," and the remaining...(+)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), composed the
words to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" on
December 25th 1864. "Glory to God in the Highest, and
on Earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14). The
carol was originally a poem, "Christmas Bells,"
containing seven stanzas. Two stanzas were omitted,
which contained references to the American Civil War,
thus giving us the carol in its present form. The poem
gave birth to the carol, "I Heard the Bells on
Christmas Day," and the remaining five stanzas were
slightly rearranged in 1872 by John Baptiste Calkin
(1827-1905), who also gave us the memorable tune.
I developed this arrangement (preamble, verses and
postamble) for English Handbells to provide the
brilliance missing in keyboard arrangements.
PARTITION