By Request, ‘What Child Is This?’

Posted By: leeduigonPosted On:

Today’s entry in our annual Christmas Carol Contest is by Phoebe–What Child Is This?, sung by the Adoration Ensemble, with background sets by God the Father.

I don’t know of a more beautiful melody than this. It never fails to move me.

7 comments on “By Request, ‘What Child Is This?’”

  2. I love the words and melody of this song and sing it year-round. Here is a bit of information about its origins.

    “Greensleeves” is a traditional English folk song, “A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves.” It was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationer’s Company in September 1580. The tune is found in several late-16th-century and early-17th-century sources.

    Christmas and New Year texts have been associated with the tune from as early as 1686. By the 19th century, almost every printed collection of Christmas carols included some version of words and music together, most of them ending with the refrain “On Christmas Day in the morning”.[10] One of the most popular of these is “What Child Is This?”, written in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix.

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  3. Maybe it went back hundreds or thousands of years??? I wonder how many beautiful melodies have been lost to time?

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  4. I have a request, but I am not sure you could call my request a Christmas Carol. Even though it’s one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time. “Mary Did You Know.” I like Kenny Rogers & Wynonna Judd’s rendition of this song. It’s up to you if you want to post it. Here is a bit about it.

    Mark Lowry, the songwriter, took over 7 years to perfect the lyrics to this powerful tune. The idea for the song came to him when he was writing a Christmas program for Jerry Falwell in 1984. He started thinking about what he would ask Mary if she was sitting right in front of him and how she must have felt. He put together the questions that eventually became the lyrics we know and love today.

    In 1991, once the lyrics were complete, Mark asked his friend Buddy Greene to put music to accompany his words. It only took 30 minutes for Buddy to compose the iconic music.

    After its recording, the song went on to become a modern Christmas favorite and has been covered by countless artists over the years. This is one of those songs that truly reminds us of the real reason for the season.

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