Es ist ein Ros entsprungen.

My 'official' Christmas post usually appears here in the middle of the night, after my return from Midnight Mass (which really does start at midnight; I accept no substitutes). Before that, for readers stopping in on Christmas Eve, here is the traditional German carol "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen," also known to many in English translation as "Lo, how a rose e'er blooming." The anonymous text dates from the late sixteenth century; it has been set to music various times, but the version heard here is the most famous, produced by Michael Praetorius in 1609. This performance by the Knabenkantorei Luzern uses Praetorius' setting with minor modifications by twentieth-century composer Carl Orff. The text follows, first in German and then in English translation:

Es ist ein Ros entsprungen,
aus einer Wurzel zart,
wie uns die Alten sungen,
von Jesse war die Art
Und hat ein Blümlein bracht
mitten im kalten Winter,
wohl zu der halben Nacht.

Das Röslein, das ich meine,
davon Jesaia sagt,
ist Maria die reine
die uns das Blümlein bracht.
Aus Gottes ew'gem Rat
hat sie ein Kind geboren
Welches uns selig macht.

Das Blümelein, so kleine,
das duftet uns so süß,
mit seinem hellen Scheine
vertreibt's die Finsternis.
Wahr Mensch und wahrer Gott,
hilft uns aus allem Leide,
rettet von Sünd und Tod.

---

A rose has sprung up,
from a tender root.
As the ancients sang to us,
Its lineage was from Jesse.
And it has brought forth a little flower
In the middle of the cold winter
Well at midnight.

The rosebud that I mean,
Of which Isaiah spoke
Is Mary, the pure,
Who brought us the little flower.
Through God’s eternal will,
She has borne a child
Who makes us blessed.

The little flower, so small
That smells so sweet to us
With its clear light
Dispels the darkness.
True man and true God,
he helps us in our misfortune,
[and] saves us from sin and death.

Peace and good wishes to all. AMDG.