O Come, All Ye Faithful

About this arrangement

The Christmas processional in G major, one sharp (F sharp), with verse 1 and the full refrain. It starts with a one-beat pickup on G, and the last bar is a beat short to balance it. The right hand starts with finger 4 on G above middle C and moves often, so watch the fingering at each change. The long notes on “behold Him”, “adore Him” and “Christ the Lord” have a sixth or third underneath, and in the third “O come, let us adore Him” the whole tune moves in sixths as the music builds. The left hand plays running quaver broken chords in the verse, then a walking bass in crotchets for the refrain, ending in strong octaves.

Practice tip: Build the refrain in three steps: the first “O come, let us adore Him” quiet, the second fuller, the third strong, and broaden a little into “Christ the Lord”. Keep the verse moving forward like a procession, with a steady crotchet beat.

The words

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem; Come and behold Him, born the King of angels; O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

A short history

The Latin hymn “Adeste fideles” is first found in manuscripts copied by John Francis Wade, an English Catholic who lived in exile in France and made his living copying music for Catholic chapels and families; one of his copies is dated 1751, the year he printed it in his Cantus Diversi. Who wrote the tune and words is not certain, though many scholars credit Wade himself. Over the years it has also been put down to King John IV of Portugal, the organist John Reading and even Handel.

In London it was called the “Portuguese Hymn”, after the Duke of Leeds heard it at the chapel of the Portuguese embassy in 1795.

The English words are by Frederick Oakeley, minister of the Margaret Chapel in Marylebone, London (he later became a Catholic priest), who translated it in 1841 as “Ye faithful, approach ye”. His revised version, beginning “O come, all ye faithful”, was published in Murray’s Hymnal in 1852 and is the one sung today.

Quick facts

Tune

Attributed to John Francis Wade, about 1743–1751

Words

Frederick Oakeley, 1841

Level

Intermediate (full verses, a moving left hand)

Key

G major

Time signature

4/4

Length

20 bars and a pickup

Tempo

Steady, like a procession, crotchet = 88

Hands

Both hands on the grand staff: right hand on the treble staff, left hand on the bass staff

Copyright

Public domain tune and words; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal, church and classroom use

Questions and answers