Angels We Have Heard on High

The third piece in the concert, entitled Angels We Have Heard on High, was arranged by Jay Dawson (see below) in 1993.

“Angels We Have Heard on High”, is a Christmas carol to the hymn tune “Gloria” from a traditional French song of unknown origin called “Les Anges dans nos campagnes” (“The Angels in the Fields”), with paraphrased English lyrics by James Chadwick (1813 – 1882). The song's subject is the birth of Jesus Christ as narrated in the Gospel of Luke, specifically the scene outside Bethlehem in which shepherds encounter a multitude of angels singing and praising the newborn child. Its most memorable feature is its chorus, “Gloria in excelsis Deo”, where the “o” of “Gloria” is fluidly sustained through 16 notes of a rising and falling melismatic melodic sequence. That “Gloria” pattern serves as much of the thematic material of this arrangement.

Near the end of the arrangement, there is a brief quote of “Joy to the World”.

Arranger Jay Dawson (b. 1947) has taught music in junior and senior high schools, as well as at the college level. He taught summer graduate courses at the VanderCook College in Chicago for three summers and played French horn with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra for ten years. In 1977, Mr. Dawson was named assistant conductor there. He also directed the Nashville Youth Symphony.

Dawson has written compositions and arrangements for a wide variety of groups and events, including Opryland, USA, the 1982 World’s Fair, and several drum and bugle corps. Dawson is founder and conductor of the Tennessee Winds, a professional concert band. He is also one of the principal officers of the Arrangers Publishing Company in Nashville.

The music for Angels We Have Heard on High was purchased for the band by Dan and Lois Wilson, in honor of the oboe section of December 2013.