A blessing to see the generations in praise to the LORD.
It was Ambrose who provided a musical compromise, after Constantine made Christianity the state religion. Some Christians wanted to ban music completely, because music during the Roman Empire was associated with the arena, the (anti-Christian) theater, and with parties/orgies, so those who wanted it banned thought it would be irredeemable. (Sounds like today’s situation, but I digress.) Other Christians wanted music to be part of the church experience, because of all the references to praising God in music throughout the Bible. Ambrose’s compromise was to allow sung music, but ban musical instruments, so that there would be music, but it would not sound like secular music. As a result, instruments were rare to nonexistent in Europe (except for Muslim Spain) for over five centuries, and all church music was a cappella until at least the 1100s, when Leonin began the Ars Antigua movement with 2 or 3 simultaneous voice lines. Here endeth the music history lesson :-)
One more thing: singing Ambrose alongside, say, Mark Lowry (”Mary did you know?”) in a Christmas Eve service is what Jesus described as being like a man bringing out of his storehouse treasures both new and old (Matt. 13:52).
From many a choral Advent past....
Thanks for posting.
That is beautiful and I’ve never heard it, much less sung it. Thanks for posting.
http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/folk/c97-095.mid
The tune was used by various Baroque composers including Johann Pachelebel and J.S. Bach.
For my money, the best advent hymn ever prsented to mankind is the one sang by the Redeemer at His Birth, given in Hebrews 10:5-10 and 16-18.