Talk:Stern über Bethlehem

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A fact from Stern über Bethlehem appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 28 January 2018 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that "Stern über Bethlehem" is a German song created in 1964 and often sung by star singers (pictured)?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2018/January. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Stern über Bethlehem.

Wikipedia

French source

The French source was translated by LouisAlain:

The text

This song is part of the "Neues Lied - The New Song" movement, which represents the revival of the German church song after the Second World War. Alfred Hans Zoller, born in 1928 in Reutti (Neu-Ulm) in Würtenberg, was an organist and cantor in that city.

The text, which tells the story of the magi from their star, is inspired by the custom of the "Sternsinger", the singers with the star, disguised as kings magi, who cross the German and Alsatian villages, singing rhymes of Epiphany, with the simple text. This custom is rather Catholic, but it also exists in Protestant regions. The singers with the star are obviously three, carrying a star on a stick, and are accompanied by some servants, who carry the basket in which they put people's gifts: candies, chocolates, Christmas "bredele", and also money. In some places they collect for the mission, one of the themes of Epiphany. They inscribe above the door of the houses an inscription as follows:" 20 * C + M + M + B * 06 ", i. e.:" the beginning of the vintage * Caspar + Melchior + Balthasar * the end of the vintage ". CMB also means: Christus mansionem benedicat, Christ bless the house.

Here in song, the circuit of the magi in the village takes on a spiritual dimension and becomes a true canticle, but keeps this naive freshness of childhood. From there comes the final verse: "We take you to our houses." This is both the practical gesture of bringing the shining cardboard star home and the spiritual intention of making our houses into Christmas stables, where Christ will lodge.

The composition of the text is very precise and concise, modelled on poets such as Riethmuller or Rudolf Alexander Schröder. The German text is made up of mono- and bisyllables, the only word of three syllables is "Bethlehem", which comes back to the beginning and end of each stanza, as a parenthesis that holds all the song. This song is used very well in a children's play, mimed, during a Christmas or Epiphany worship. It can also be used as a graduation for the Epiphany or on the first Sunday after the Epiphany, or as a song after the Gospel.

The melody

It is an example of postwar German music, stripped down to the bare essentials and focusing on musical material rather than melody. It is built on an asymmetrical rhythm of 6 feet and 4 feet, which gives an effect of acceleration, then deceleration. It goes well with flutes and percussions, and gives a light character to the text.

The harmonization given by Alleluia 2005 is by Friedemann Schaber, who is a cantor in Rastatt, Baden, and lives in Forstfeld, Alsace, where he is a volunteer organist. His harmonization comes from the Recueil d'harmonisation made for the Supplement (Anhang) of the EG Baden-Palatinate Alsace, in which the song appears. LouisAlain (talk) 09:55, 28 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Copied from my talk. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:38, 28 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]