Saturday 24 December 2011
Tune of the Day: Quelle est cette odeur agréable?
Traditional French Christmas carol
The melody to this French Christmas carol about the Nativity was used by John Gay in his famous The Beggar's Opera in 1728. Since it originated in France and made its way across the channel into that famous English stage effort, it must have been in existence for some decades, because Gay only used familiar tunes for his production. The carol is also popular in English translations, the most common one appearing to be by A.B. Ramsay:
Whence is the goodly fragrance flowing,
Stealing our senses all away,
never the like did come a-blowing,
Shepherds, in flow'ry fields of May,
Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing,
Stealing our senses all away.