Music of Christmas 2

Last updated on: December 2, 2015 at 11:27 am

December 2, 2015 by Dan Peterson

Die Wieskirche in Bayern — The Wieskirche, in Bavaria, not too far from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It has no particular relationship to “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” — in fact, it’s slightly younger — but it’s a favorite place of mine where I would someday love to hear the carol or, even, to sing it.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)
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I still vividly remember the exquisite thrill that went through me when, many years ago, I first heard Es ist ein Ros entsprungen. The sheer beauty of it entranced me.

Noch eine Ansicht auf die Wieskirche — Another view of the Wieskirche, a pilgrimage church designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann and built in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, not too far from the famous Passion Play village of Oberammergau

(Wikimedia CC; click to enlarge.)

I love the melody. But I also love the lyrics, the message. And, alas, I’ve never seen an English translation that does them justice. But here, anyway, is a nice version of the piece by a German quintet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA4pBDNZDx0

Innerhalb der Wieskirche — The somewhat surprising baroque interior of this isolated little Bavarian country church
(Wikimedia CC; click to enlarge)

There was a time when Europe was still, in a very real sense, Christian. Es ist ein Ros entsprungen is a fossil remnant of that time.

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