Wesley & Mendelssohn, an Unlikely Duo for "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"

The words to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was written by Charles Wesley, an Anglican converted to a Methodist, while the music was composed by Felix Mendelssohn, a Christianized Jew. Neither one of these men would have been happy with the final result in their lifetimes, yet if they are looking on from above, they are probably celebrating the joy this carol has brought to the world.

Charles Wesley (1707- 1788), with his brother John, founded the Methodist Church. Charles had spent a year in America as secretary to General James Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia. He returned to England disillusioned and depressed. In 1738, at a prayer meeting, he experienced a "heart-warming" by God. From that date on he was nearly continuously writing praises to God, and penned over 6500 hymns. He preferred solemn, slow tunes. Most of these poems have passed into near oblivion.

One such hymn that might have gone un-sung began:
"Hark! How all the welkin rings, 'Glory to the King of Kings."
It continues with the familiar stanzas of the present day carol. ¹

Welkin means the curved vault of the sky or heaven. The poem was published in 1739 in "Hymns and Sacred Poems." Wesley was quite particular about what people did with his writing. In the preface to one of his hymnals he printed a long diatribe demanding that people not change his words, but if they must comment to do so in the margins or by footnote. He requested this so that he would "no longer be accountable for the nonsense or for the doggerel of other men." ²

Nevertheless, George Whitfield, an American Evangelist altered that first line to read:
Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King." Over time a few other minor changes have been made to Wesley's original poem, but essentially the words are his.

Nearly 100 years later Felix Mendelssohn (1809- 1847) composed a piece called Festgesang #7 (Fesitval Song). This music was written to celebrate the anniversary of the discovery of printing. He wasn't enthusiastic about the original words and commented, "I think there ought to be other words to [it]. If the right ones are hit I am sure that piece will be liked very much. But it will never do to sacred words." ³

It took the genius of William H. Cummings to bring the two together. Cummings was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in England. He had actually been a 16-year-old choirboy in the performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah which the composer also conducted. ³ In 1855, Cummings brought the words and music together in the form we know it today.

In a final bit of irony, this is the only one of Wesley's poems which is included in the Anglican "Book of Common Prayer." ⁴

1. See the lyrics and hear the tune at Hymnsite.com

2. Morgan, Robert J., Then Sings My Soul: 150 of the World's Greatest Hymn Stories. Thomas Nelson Publishers. 2003. p 49.

3. Emurian, Ernest K, Living Stories of Famous Hymns. W.A. Wilde Company, 1955.

4. William Hayman Cummings, Cyberhymnal