"" (The Happy Christmas Comes Once More) is a Danish Christmas carol. The lyrics were written by the Danish poet N.F.S. Grundtvig in 1817, and the music was composed by Carl Christian Nicolaj Balle in 1850.

History Grundtvig wrote the hymn with inspiration from Martin Luther's "". In 1810, he wrote it as "", and in 1817 it was reworked as "" with 24 stanzas. It was published in a weekly magazine on 23 December as ""). The current version of the hymn with nine stanzas is the result of several modifications, for instance by Bernhard Severin Ingemann, and was first published in a supplement to the 1877 edition of Fest-Psalmer.

Music The hymn was most likely written for the tune of "" (Schumann, 1539), but can also be paired with the tune of "". The most popular tune was written by the clergyman C. Balle in 1850.

Publication and recordings The hymn is included in the 19th edition of the Danish Folk High School Songbook, as No. 241, paired with Balle's tune.

Notable recordings have been made by Swedish singer Sven-Olof Sandberg (1905–1974) and Norwegian soloist Olav Werner (1913–1992).Øivind Lunde med trio, vibrafon og klokker: Det kimer nu til julefest (Parlophon B 41085, 78-plate)

Adaptations A number of adaptations of the song into English exist. The earliest, entitled "The Bells of Christmas Chime Once More", was translated by Charles P. Krauth in 1867. A later adaptation bore the title "O Fir Tree Dark", and was recorded by Bing Crosby in 1947. Another translation is "The Happy Christmas Comes Once More" by Charles P. Krauth.Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, 143

See also List of Christmas carols

References