Scripture Verse

There shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:10

Introduction

portrait
Michael Praetorius (1571–1621)

Words: 15th Cen­tu­ry ca­rol (Es ist ein Ros ent­sprung­en). Vers­es 1–2 trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Theo­dore Bak­er, 1894. Vers­es 3–4, Fried­rich Lay­ritz, trans­lat­ed by Har­ri­et R. Krauth, 1875. Verse 5, trans­lat­ed or writ­ten by John C. Mat­tes, 1914.

Music: Es ist ein Ros’ Al­te ca­tho­lische geist­liche Kirch­en­ge­säng (Co­logne, Ger­ma­ny: 1599). Har­mo­ny by Mi­chael Prae­to-ri­us, 1609 (🔊 pdf nwc).

This hymn was sung in the 1971 Aca­de­my Award win­ning mo­vie Love Story.

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Bak­er (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Lo, how a rose e’er bloom­ing
From ten­der stem hath sprung!
Of Jes­se’s lin­eage com­ing,
As men of old have sung.
It came, a flow­er­et bright,
Amid the cold of win­ter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas fore­told it,
The rose I have in mind;
With Ma­ry we be­hold it,
The vir­gin mo­ther kind.
To show God’s love aright,
She bore to men a Sav­ior,
When half spent was the night.

The shep­herds heard the sto­ry
Proclaimed by an­gels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glo­ry
Was born on earth this night.
To Beth­le­hem they sped
And in the man­ger found Him,
As an­gel her­alds said.

This flow­er, whose frag­rance ten­der
With sweet­ness fills the air,
Dispels with glo­ri­ous splen­dor
The dark­ness ev­ery­where;
True man, yet ve­ry God,
From sin and death He saves us,
And light­ens ev­ery load.

O Sav­ior, child of Ma­ry,
Who felt our hu­man woe,
O Sav­ior, King of glo­ry,
Who dost our weak­ness know;
Bring us at length we pray,
To the bright courts of Hea­ven,
And to the end­less day!