coldhearted scientist وداد

This is the very most important Danish Christmas song. I cannot find a Danish performance of it I like enough, so we will play it in the original Latin. Here it is in Danish, in a nice Renaissance style that is surely appropriate, and here is Tony Holm singing it with the tune I know. This last version has the advantage of allowing you to hear exactly how it should be pronounced.

This song was apparently translated to Danish in 1553 by Hans Tausen, and in 1820 by none other than N.S.F. Grundtvig — there is no escaping him. In this transformation or forvandling, as one would say in Danish, the tune was reworked, apparently so that it would sound more like a Danish folk song than like Gregorian chant or Renaissance chanson. There was the original tune, from the 14th century; then the words were reset in a German song from 1600. The melody I know, and that Tony Holm sings above, was composed in 1849.

Et barn er født i Bethlehem,
Bethlehem,
thi glæder sig Jerusalem.
Halleluja,
halleluja!

En fattig jomfru sad i løn,
sad i løn,
og fødte himlens kongesøn.
Halleluja,
halleluja!

Axé.