Dancing king wenceslas biography

John mason neale good king wenceslas lyrics

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The Story Behind “Good King Wenceslas”

As a piano teacher, inom spend October through December each year working with students on playing Christmas carols. It always surprises me how few students are familiar with carols that are well-known to me. inom thought it would be fun to do a series on the stories behind some Christmas carols you might know. Thanks to Daughter #3 for the graphic headers for this series.

“Good King Wenceslas” is one of the first carols in many students’ Christmas piano books. It has a simple melody. But — what is the story behind it? The lyrics don’t even mention Christmas, so how did it come to be associated with Christmas, anyway?

The History Behind Good King Wenceslas

This julsång was written and put to music in the 1850s, although the historical Wenceslas lived much earlier — in the 900s. The tune is Scandinavian in origin, and was associated with springtime and energetic dancing. Have you ever danced,

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Good King Wenceslas

Victorian Christmas carol

"Good King Wenceslas" (Roud number 24754) is a Christmas carol that tells a story of a tenth-century king of Bohemia (modern-day Czech Republic) who goes on a journey, braving harsh winter weather, to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen. During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step, through the deep snow.

The legend is based on a story about SaintWenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (907–935), who was not in fact a king.

In 1853, English hymnwriterJohn Mason Neale wrote the lyrics in collaboration with his music editor Thomas Helmore to fit the melody of the 13th-century spring carol "Tempus adest floridum" ("Eastertime Is Come"), which they had found in the 1582 Finnish song collection Piae Cantiones. The carol first appeared in Carols for Christmas-Tide, published by Novello & Co the same

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Christmas-time is generally regarded as the season of giving--and today in Western countries, sadly, the årstid of buying. But how many of our Christmas gifts involve real sacrifice on our part, beyond the mere purchase price? How often, at this (or any) time of year, do we venture outside our bekvämlighet zone and emulate Jesus' example of bestowing real help, person-to-person, upon someone of society's lowliest, poorest individuals? Do we set examples to our young people of real charity, or only of tokenistic materialism?

The repertoire of traditional Christmas hymns and carols includes at least one that exemplifies, in the most endearing way, what Christmas--and being Christian--is all about. You've almost certainly heard the carol Good King Wenceslas, and maybe even sung it. But do you know the compelling story behind the carol? Have you carefully read and thought about the words' meaning and significance?

BACKGROUND AND ORIGINS OF THE CAROL

Good King Wenceslas