Joy to the World

Joy to the world

Joy to the world
Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing
Joy to the world
Joy to the world
Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy
Joy to the world, now we sing
Let the earth receive her king
Joy to the world, now we sing
Let the angel voices ring
Joy to the world, now we sing
Let men their songs employ
Joy to the world, now we sing
Repeat the sounding joy
Oh oh
He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The light of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders, wonders, of His love
And wonders, wonders, of His love
Joy to the world, now we sing
Let the earth receive her king
Joy to the world, now we sing
Let the angel voices ring

As of the late 20th century, "Joy to the World" was the most-published Christmas hymn in North America.[1]

Origin
The words of the hymn are by English writer Isaac Watts, based on Psalm 98, 96:11–12 and Genesis 3:17–18. The song was first published in 1719 in Watts' collection The Psalms of David: Imitated in the language of the New Testament, and applied to the Christian state and worship. The paraphrase is Watts' Christological interpretation. Consequently, he does not emphasize with equal weight the various themes of Psalm 98. In first and second stanzas, Watts writes of heaven and earth rejoicing at the coming of the King. An interlude that depends more on Watts' interpretation than the psalm text, stanza three speaks of Christ's blessings extending victoriously over the realm of sin. The cheerful repetition of the non-psalm phrase "far as the curse is found" has caused this stanza to be omitted from some hymnals. But the line makes joyful sense when understood from the New Testament eyes through which Watts interprets the psalm. Stanza four celebrates Christ's rule over the nations."[2] The nations are called to celebrate because God's faithfulness to the house of Israel has brought salvation to the world.[3]

Music
Watts' 1719 preface says the verses "...are fitted to the Tunes of the Old PSALM-BOOK" and includes the instruction "sing all entitled COMMON METER".[4] In the late 1700s "Joy to the World" was printed together with music several times, however, the tunes did not resemble and were not related to the one commonly used today.[5]

The tune usually used today is from an 1848 edition by Lowell Mason for The National Psalmist (Boston, 1848).[6] Mason was by that time an accomplished and well-known composer and arranger, having composed tunes such as "Bethany", which was used for the hymn Nearer My God to Thee. Mason's 1848 publication of the current tune was the fourth version to have been published. The first, published in his 1836 book Occasional Psalm and Hymn Tunes, featured the present day tune (in a different arrangement) with the present-day lyrics; the first such publication to do so. The name of this tune was given as "Antioch", and was attributed as being "From Handel".[7] A very similar arrangement of the tune to today's arrangement, and also with the present-day lyrics, was published in Mason's 1839 book The Modern Psalmist. It was also titled "Antioch" and attributed to Handel.[8]

Musically, the first four notes of "Joy to the World" are the same as the first four in the chorus "Lift up your heads" from Handel's Messiah (premiered 1742), and, in the third line, the same as found in another Messiah piece: the arioso, "Comfort ye". Consequently, and with Mason's attribution to Handel, there has long been speculation over how much a part Handel's Messiah had in "Joy to the World".[9] It is known Mason was a great admirer and scholar of Handel's music, and had in fact became president of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society in 1827[10] and was also an editor for them.[11] However, resemblances between Messiah and "Joy to the World", have been dismissed as 'chance resemblance' by Handel scholars today.[12]



piano Dan McCoy

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