O Holy Silent Night!

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Yesterday we went to the wedding of a daughter of an old friend of ours, in the parish church of a village in rural Leicestershire. The couple had - as is customary these days - done all the wedding planning themselves, and had taken into account that this was an "almost Christmas" wedding. They had chosen two reasonably well-known hymns (Morning has Broken and Amazing Grace) that at least some of mainly non-churchy congregation could have a go at, but then they decided that it would be a good idea if everybody sang "O Holy Night" half way through the service. O Holy Night is certainly a very beautiful Christmas carol, with the tune composed by the renowned 19th century French composer Adolphe Adam. When sung well by a trained soloist or choir it is a delight to listen to - it has been voted by the listeners of Classic FM (a UK classical music radio station) as their favourite piece of Christmas music. However, as a piece to be sung by an unrehearsed wedding congregation in a small village church, accompanied on a piano, it is a very different matter - especially if most of those present have never heard it before! Everyone was given a copy of the words as they entered the church - I have attempted to photograph the scroll above - but this proved to be a problem at the outset. There are three verses to the carol, but the sheet only had a gap between the first and second verses, so if you lost your place during the second verse it was very difficult to work out where you were. However, most people did not bother, not having the faintest idea how the tune went anyway! Apart from that, O Holy Night is nothing like as simple as it might appear on first hearing it. The tune is quite complicated, as is the rhythm, and it ascends to the heavens in the later lines with some gorgeous high notes if you can sing them - but not if you can't! I had a go at singing it, but I'm not sure if anyone else did! Even the bride and groom did not appear to be singing, so after I gave up - which I did when even my reedy tenor proved insufficient - all we had was a piano solo! Note to couples planning their wedding - you might like a certain song or hymn, but it's no good if nobody can perform it!