Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. My greeting to you (I probably won’t be posting tomorrow) is this number from Sissel, a Danish hymn by Hans Adolph Brorson. Mitt Hjerte Altid Vanker has an earlier Danish melody, but this Swedish tune has become more popular, for reasons that will be apparent when you hear it.
It’s in Norwegian, of course, so I’ve gone to the trouble of translating the verses Sissel sings here for you. There are in fact 11 verses, but only 3 are used here. This version does a little mixing, combining lines from two different verses (and out of order too!) at the end.
But it works.
My heart is e’er returning
There where my Lord was born;
My thoughts forever yearning
In wonder at that morn:
My longing finds its home there,
My treasure gleaming bright --
My faith finds rest alone there,
That blessed Christmas night!
But ah! How to express it, Things wisdom cannot know, That God – no soul could guess it Would e’er descend so low: That He, the praise of Heaven, The great eternal Word, Into a stall was given Our humble, infant Lord. Oh come! My soul is sighing Your work in me begin! To Heaven’s heart I’m crying, Come, Lord, and enter in! – My heart, your blood has bought it, It is no alien ground – In flesh you came and sought it Be here forever found!
Thank you for this! And a joyful Christmas Eve and Day to you!
Knowing nothing (as far as I recall) of Brorson (before reading his Wikipedia article just now), it is fascinating that he translated German works into Danish and this work of his went to Sweden and Denmark – and reading your translation (and the facts it has 11 verses and this one mixes a couple) it is further fascinating how much it seems part of a wide and deep Christmas music tradition (on the basis of my current Dutch mediaeval Christmas song reading – with respect to length, borrowing, mixing, ‘crossing borders’ – and linking stall and heart!).
Well, Sweden was separate, but the Norwegian church was the Danish church for around 400 years. Norwegians thought of Brorson as one of their own, or at least part of their heritage. And when you live up around the arctic circle, a celebration of light around the winter solstice means a whole heck of a lot (as per my discussion in my novel Troll Valley).
A happy Christmas to you and yours.