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In Reply to: RE: Oh Holy Night posted by kitch29 on December 24, 2016 at 03:59:55
The original is actually a little tricky, and definitely counter-intuitive. It's written in 4, and the melody starts with an 16th note pickup to the third beat of the bar, plus Adam adds an extra bar in between the first two phrases, making the first section a total of 10 bars. Ms. Nettles gets it half right, with six beats of intro, but, like virtually everyone who is not looking at the music (and even some who are), she just can't wait the extra 2 beats before the second phrase ("long lay the world"). It ends up feeling like it worked out, because the B section ("A thrill of hope") starts on the downbeat of the bar, but, in fact, her opening section works out to be 9 1/2 bars long, instead of 10.
Played this many, many times over the years, and the arrangement that we used was true to the original. We had singers jump those two beats so many times, that we just knew how to go with them, and for the most part, expected it. It mostly depended on the harpist (in this case, my late wife), and she was always looking to go with the singer. Pretty much the only people to get it right were opera singers who are accustomed to the technique of writing phrases across the bar line (the Farandole from L'Arlesienne is another good example of this-your ear thinks it starts on 1, but it actually starts on 3).
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Always sung as 'Ohh Ho ly'as though there's a half rest in the opening bar as well as the 'Long lay the world' bar. Even the lovely Swedish Soprano from Cantate Domino.
The rhythm was conceived to fit the original French lyrics, "Minuit, Chretiens". The English translation doesn't fit the original rhythm as well, although it can be made to work. I don't have a problem adapting the rhythm to fit. Usually the only time you hear the English lyrics with the original rhythm is when singers do different verses in different languages, and want to keep it consistent. Pavarotti does this, singing the first verse in English, then the first verse again, in French, using the same rhythm in both.
Edits: 12/26/16
Most pop singers have a hard time singing it, period.
Elsewhere in this thread, I have linked recordings by tenors Richard Verreau and Raoul Jobin, so I may as well link one by Georges Thill, who definitely leaves out the big rest, possibly to save time on a 78 recordings. Like most, he skips the second verse, which is somewhat revolutionary in the French original.
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