Angels We Have Heard on High

Perhaps, one of the most popular songs used in Christmas cantatas and musicals is this carol, Angels We Have Heard on High. Based on a traditional French carol, Les Anges dans nos campagnes (which translates to "Angels in our countryside"), the English version was written in 1862 by James Chadwick.

The carol commemorates the story of the Jesus Christ's birth found in the Gospel of Luke. Before shepherds tending to sleeping sheep outside Bethlehem, a multitude of angels appear, giving praise and singing to announce the birth of Jesus. The most popular part of the song is its chorus, Gloria in Excelsis Deo!--which is Latin for "Glory to God in the highest."


Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Come to Bethlehem and see
Him Whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

See him in a manger laid
Whom the angels praise above;
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
While we raise our hearts in love.

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!