"That Glorious Song of Old" was written by Americans Edmund Sears and composer Richard Willis, a carol that speaks of angels and the nativity.

"It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" is a popular nativity hymn sung every Christmas season. The lyrics were written by Edmund H. Sears (1810-1876), and the tune was composed by Richard S. Willis (1819-1900). The song is all about hope and peace brought by the angels as a message.

Hymn Addresses Social Unrest

One of the first Christmas hymns written by an American writer and published in the Christian Register in 1849, "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" emphasizes the social implications of the angels' message: achieving peace and good will toward our fellowmen in the midst of social difficulty.

The writing of this text occurred at a time in American history when there was much unrest, including the foreboding of the tensions between the North and Southern States, social upheaval due to industrial revolution, and the time of the "Forty-niner" gold rush.

The hymn text was considered to have addressed these difficulties, urging folks to listen once again to the angels singing. The final stanza is a verse of hopeful optimism: "When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling, and the whole world gives back the song, which now the angels sing."

Edmund Hamilton Sears – Text Author

Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears was born on April 6, 1810, in Sandisfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard Divinity School and spent life pasturing small Unitarian Churches in Massachusetts. Many were surprised that Edmund Sears, a Unitarian (believer in religious tolerance and support of liberty of conscience), could write such a fine text surrounding Christ's nativity.

He was viewed to be more a Unitarian in name than by conviction, for he believed and preached the deity of Christ from his pulpit. This was evident in his Sermons and Songs of the Christian Life, a book published a year before his death. He wrote: "Although I was educated in the Unitarian denomination, I believe and preach the Divinity of Christ."

Sears wrote a number of publications, but authored only two hymn texts, both intended for the Christmas season. His first carol hymn, written while a student in Harvard Divinity School, was "Calm on the Listening Ear of Night." This hymn is also included in various hymnals today, but it is not as popular as "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" written 15 years later.

Richard Storrs Willis – Hymn Composer

The tune for the hymn, "Carol," was composed by a well-known 19th-century American musician, Richard Storrs Willis from Detroit, Michigan. He studied 6 years of composition in Germany, becoming an intimate friend of Felix Mendelssohn. His publications included Church Chorals and Choir Studies (1850), Our Church Music (1856), Waif of Song (1876), and Pen and Lute (1883).

"Carol" was originally used with another hymn text, "See Israel's Gentle Shepherd Stand," an adaptation in Willis' 1850 published collection, Church Chorals and Choir Studies. Richard Willis' tune "Carol" has proven to be a worthy melodic vehicle for Edmund Sears' text as generations continue to enjoy singing "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" every Christmas season.

Song and Lyrics of "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear"

CyberHymnal

The Hymn's First Stanza

It came upon the midnight clear,

That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth,

To touch their harps of gold:

"Peace on the earth good will to men,

From heaven's all-gracious King."

The world in solemn stillness lay,

To hear the angels sing.

Source

101 More Hymn Stories by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications (1982)