_MUSIC._ ST. LOUIS. Brooks asked his church organist, Lewis Redner, who was also Sunday school superintendent, to set the carol to music. This was done in great haste on the Saturday night before Christmas, 1868. The words and tune, printed on leaflets, were sung by six teachers and 36 Sunday school children, and then practically forgotten until 1892 when they were published in the _Hymnal of the Episcopal Church_. The hymn has become popular since, not only in America but also in England. The tune generally used in England, however, is not “St. Louis,” but “Forest Green.” (See 290.) 85. Hark the herald angels sing _Charles Wesley_, 1707-88 One of the most popular English hymns. Julian listed four hymns as standing at the head of all in the English language: “When I survey” (105-6), “Rock of Ages” (148), “Awake my soul” (25), and this one. It is taken from Wesley’s _Hymns and Sacred Poems_, 1739. The original had 10 four-line stanzas and no refrain. The hymn has been altered in various ways and improved. For example, the lines, With the angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem, originally read Universal nature say Christ the Lord is born today. And for our familiar first lines, Hark! the herald angels sing! Glory to the new-born King, Wesley had Hark! how all the welkin rings, Glory to the King of Kings. These, and other changes, disprove the common assertion that hymns should always be sung just as the authors left them. As a rule, however, it still remains true that “the _professional_ hymn mender is an odious creature.” For comments on Charles Wesley see Hymn 6. _MUSIC._ MENDELSSOHN, also called “Bethlehem” and “St. Vincent,” is from Mendelssohn’s _Festgesang_ for Male Chorus and Orchestra, composed in 1840 to celebrate the invention of printing. The tune is adapted from chorus No. 2 of that work. Dr. W. H. Cummings, organist at Waltham Abbey, set the tune to the words of this hymn and had it sung by the Abbey Choir. It was so well received that he published it in 1856 and it has since found its way into the hymn books of all denominations. It is interesting to note Mendelssohn’s own estimate of the tune, as he expressed it in a letter to his English publishers. I am sure that piece will be liked very much by the singers and hearers, but it will never do to sacred words. There must be a national and merry subject found out, something to which the soldier-like and buxom motion of the piece has some relation, and the words must express something gay and popular as the music tries to do. 86. O holy night The night of the Saviour’s birth is the subject of Christmas carols in every land, of which this and “Silent Night” are outstanding examples. The words are anonymous. The omitted third stanza reads as follows: