An interesting podcast by Robert “Roc” O’Connor, S.J. dropped a few days ago:
“In Episode 2 of “Hark!,” America Media’s new podcast about the origins of our favorite Christmas carols, host Maggi Van Dorn digs into “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” with Cameron Upchurch, the organist at St. John’s College in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the Jesuit composer and founding member of the St. Louis Jesuits, Robert “Roc” O’Connor, S.J.
Early on, Mr. Upchurch talks about how his students love “Emmanuel” because the sound of it is so much more mysterious than other carols. One of our editors, Molly Cahill, described it as “eerie.”
That is not generally a quality we ascribe to Christmas carols. We are talking about the birth of our Savior here, not the set up for an Edgar Allan Poe story. But “Emmanuel” has an undeniably spooky quality to it. Sometimes that has to do with the opening, as in this 2016 performance by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Something about that organ transports you back to a chill, moonless night on the moors of Victorian England. …
Unlike other popular carols, “Emmanuel” is a song not for Christmas but for Advent. And in the Scripture readings during Advent, we watch all kinds of different characters receiving portents and predictions about Jesus. Some take them well. Others do not. In the Gospel of Matthew, King Herod is so frightened at what the coming of a messiah might mean that he has all boys under the age of 2 in the Bethlehem area massacred. …
Check out this episode for many more great insights into “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” including how it became the carol we know and love—as well as O’Connor’s ideas on how to play the song at Mass.”
