LOOK: The Birth of Christ by Ulyana Tomkevych
Frosty yet warm, this icon by Ulyana Tomkevych of Ukraine is one of my favorite Nativity paintings. It shows Mary embracing her swaddled newborn, Jesus, amid a bleak midwinter. She reclines across a red blanket of flowers inspired by Ukrainian embroidery patterns, which hovers mystically above a line of barren trees, suggesting that Christ’s birth has ushered in a new springtime.
The wisps of white against the cool green-grays at the bottom suggest snowdrifts, whereas the faint rose tints at the top imply a suffusing warmth. The silver semicircle at the top, with its emanating beams, represents the mystery and presence of God breaking into the world.
Following Greek Orthodox tradition, Christ’s halo is inscribed with the Greek letters ώ Ό Ν (omega, omicron, nu), spelling “He who is” (see Exod. 3:14). Tomkevych is a member of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is in communion with the Holy See but follows the Byzantine Rite.
LISTEN: “Balulalow” | Original German words by Martin Luther, 1535 (title: “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her”) | Translated into Scots by James, John, and Robert Wedderburn, 1567 | Music by Peter Warlock, from his Three Carols suite, 1923 | Performed by Sting on If on a Winter’s Night, 2009 [see full credits]
O my deare hert, young Jesu sweit,
Prepare thy creddil in my spreit
And I sall rock thee in my hert,
And never mair from thee depert.But I sall praise thee evermore
With sangis sweit unto thy gloir.
The knees of my hert sall I bow,
And sing that richt Balulalow.Literal English translation:
O my dear heart, young Jesus sweet,
Prepare thy cradle in my spirit
And I shall rock thee in my heart,
And nevermore from thee depart.But I shall praise thee evermore
With songs sweet unto thy glory.
The knees of my heart shall I bow,
And sing that true Balulalow.English translation, from the German, by Catherine Winkworth:
Ah! dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make thee a bed, soft, undefiled
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.My heart for very joy doth leap;
My lips no more can silence keep.
I too must sing with joyful tongue
That sweetest ancient cradle song.
These two stanzas in Middle Scots are an extract from the longer “Ane Sang of the Birth of Christ,” also known by its first line, “I come from heuin to tell,” from the Ane Compendious Buik of Godly and Spirituall Sangis (1567). In this part of the hymn, the speaker asks Jesus to be at home in their heart and receive their sweet songs. Mary is the model for this reception, love, and adoration of the Christ child—she who cradled him, praised him, sang to him, and held him close.
The word balulalow is derived from the Scottish word for “lullaby.”
For all fifteen stanzas in Scots, see here, and for Catherine Winkworth’s full English translation, here. The hymn actually originated in German from the pen of Martin Luther, who titled it “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her” (From Heaven Above to Earth I Come). It spread to the Netherlands and the British Isles in the 1560s.
In his recording, the cross-genre English musician Sting uses neither the German folk tune that Luther paired with the text upon its first publication, nor the melody Luther composed for it in 1539. Instead Sting uses the 1923 setting written by the English composer Peter Warlock for his Three Carols suite.
In Sting’s rendition, which he arranged in collaboration with Robert Sadin, the female backing vocals evoke a wintry wind and a snare drum creates a forward momentum, while a cello supports Sting’s languid singing. The tone is tender and haunting.
This post is part of a daily Christmas series that goes through January 6. View all the posts here, and the accompanying Spotify playlist here.
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