December 5 

Angels We Have Heard on High 

TEXT: Traditional French Carol

No one knows who wrote the words to this carol. Although first sung in nineteenth-century France, the chorus is in Latin, suggesting the carol was written much earlier. Hymnologists agree that the author had an excellent knowledge of Scripture, as well as the skill to shape biblical text into verse. Some believe it might have been written by a monk in the early Roman Catholic Church. The text first appeared in print in French in 1855, but is known to have been sung at least fifty years earlier. It was translated into English by a priest named James Chadwick. Excelsis (pronounced eck-SHELL-sees) means “highest.” Deo (pronounced DEH-aw) means “God.” Gloria in Excelsis Deo means “glory to God in the highest.”

TUNE: Traditional French Melody

Arranged, Edward S. Barnes

b. September 14, 1887, Seabright, New Jersey

d. February 14, 1958, Idyllwild, California

Although GLORIA is a traditional French melody, the modern arrangement we sing was adapted in 1937 by American Edward S. Barnes. Educated at Yale University, he studied with the great composer and organist, Louis Verne, in Paris. Barnes was organist at two churches in New York City, an Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, and finally the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica. He composed organ symphonies and organ arrangements of sacred music. The cascading melody in the refrain imitates the growing host of angels over the shepherds’ field.

As you sing this hymn … imagine the shepherds trying to retell their experience of seeing a multitude of angels appear over their Bethlehem field one dark night. Words would be wholly inadequate! Imagine the sound of angels singing! Perhaps one group sang, “Glory to God in the highest,” another group, “Peace on earth,” and a third group, “Goodwill to men!” How would you respond if even one angel suddenly appeared to tell you about Jesus’ birth?

And why did God choose lowly shepherds as the audience for the greatest pronouncement, with the greatest song, by the greatest choir ever heard? Why were shepherds the first to see the baby Jesus? Was it because Jesus would be called the Lamb of God or that He is the Great Shepherd? Many people God called to serve Him were shepherds, including Moses and David. Yet, they were the lowest people in society. David declared: “We are his people and the sheep of his pasture” (Ps. 100:3). God sent angels to welcome shepherds—as He welcomes you—to the manger.

Because the refrain of “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” is so wonderfully familiar, a counter-melody is offered for lower voices. If you are singing with a group, learn the countermelody alone as its own melody, then combine the two like a growing host of angels praising God in the highest.