The Story Behind the Song:Â âGesu Bambinoâ
Autographed photo of Pietro Yon at console of Casavant FrĂšres organ, ca. 1919
In 1907, 21-year-old virtuoso Pietro Yon (1886â1943) immigrated to the US to take the position of organist in Manhattanâs St. Francis Xavier Church. Ten years later, he wrote âGesu Bambino,â with its chorus derived from âAdeste Fidelesâ (O Come All Ye Faithful). The original Italian lyrics, translated:
In the humble hut / in cold and poverty / the Holy infant is born / who the world will adore.
Hosanna, hosanna, sing / with a joyous heart / your shepherds and angels / O King of light and love
O beautiful baby, do not cry / Do not cry, Redeemer! / Your mother cradles you / kisses you, O Savior.
Hosanna, hosanna, sing / with a joyous heart / your shepherds and angels / O King of light and love
Itâs the most well-known work of the prolific composer, who wrote extensively for organ, piano, orchestra, and solo instruments. His long and distinguished career included appointments as Titular Organist at the Vatican and Music Director of St. Patrickâs Cathedral in New York City.
St. Patrickâs Cathedral, New York City
Basilica of St. Peter, Vatican, Rome
In 1943, six months after suffering a stroke, Pietro Yon died at the age of 57. The date was November 22âthe feast day of St. Cecilia, patron saint of musicians.
When Blossoms Flowered âmid the Snows
The English lyrics owe their existence to a poem by writer, translator, and librettist Frederick Herman Martens (1874â1932). His other works include translations of fairy tales from China, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and more; lyrics for popular, patriotic, and religious songs; writings on religion, philosophy, and history; method books on vocal and violin mastery; librettos of operettas and cantatas; A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS OF OPERA, an overview of plots and music of some 1500 operas and operettas; and THE BOOK OF GOOD MANNERS: A Guide to Polite Usage for All Social Functions, published in 1924.
âGesu Bambino,â English lyrics by Frederick H. Martens:
When blossoms flowered 'mid the snows /upon a winter night / was born the Child, the Christmas Rose / the King of Love and Light.
The angels sang, the shepherds sang / the grateful earth rejoiced / and at His blessed birth the stars / their exultation voiced.
Again the heart with rapture glows / to greet the holy night / that gave the world its Christmas Rose / its King of Love and Light.
Let ev'ry voice acclaim His name / the grateful chorus swell. / From paradise to earth He came / that we with Him might dwell.
The flower mentioned in the first line of Martensâ lyric is probably the helleborus niger, an evergreen perennial in the buttercup family popularly known as the Christmas Rose.
An interpretor of fairy tales, Martens was no doubt familiar with the legend of the young shepherdess Madelon, who was tending her sheep when the magi passed by with their lavish gifts for the Baby Jesus. Living in poverty, she had no gift to give, so she wept. A hovering angel brushed the snow from where her teardrops fell, and there bloomed a profusion of small white flowers, which Madelon joyfully picked and presented to the Child. Further legend has it that when Jesus touched the blossoms, they became tinged with pink, symbolizing the blood later to be shed. (The plant is toxic and was used in traditional medicine as a purgative and sedative.)
Martens later refers to Christ as the Christmas Rose, probably alluding to the Rose of Sharon; and perhaps, borrowing from the traditional mysticism of many cultures, the symbol of unfolding human consciousness.
Listen and download WINTER LULLABY: SONGS FOR THE CHRISTMAS CHILD.
