Canzone de Zampognari

Posting that Chieftains song yesterday reminded me that they did a second Christmas album that sounds not a thing like their first. Silent Night: A Christmas in Rome has a more classical, and Italian flavour to it-- though, of course, infused with a solidly Celtic vibe; sort of pan-Celtic, as there is a Breton carol on there, and some of the musical tones sound somewhat Galician to me. (Both of those are Celtic region in Mediterranean countries: France and Spain respectively).

I have decided to highlight a song from that album tonight, the Overture for the whole recording, but it is, properly speaking, merely a traditional Italian carol, set to orchestration. You are getting it for a couple reasons. The first is that it struck me that a carol outside of the Anglo/Germanic tradition might be nice for a chance. The second is that this particular tune is a special favourite of mine.* The words and melody were written by St. Alphonsus Liguori. When sung, the titles is Tu Scendi delle Stelle, but the tune is also strongly associated with Italian pipers, and so it is also known as Canzone de Zampognari-- or the Piper's Carol. This arrangement-- lushly orchestrated as it is-- makes room for the traditional bagpipes, and the Choir of the Basilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano give us the sung version, which run as follows:

1. Tu scendi dalle stelle,

O Re del Cielo,

e vieni in una grotta,

al freddo al gelo.

O Bambino mio Divino

Io ti vedo qui a tremar,

O Dio Beato

Ahi, quanto ti costò

l'avermi amato!

2. A te, che sei del mondo

il Creatore,

mancano panni e fuoco;

O mio Signore!

Caro eletto Pargoletto,

Quanto questa povertà

più mi innamora!

Giacché ti fece amor

povero ancora!

1. From starry skies descending,

Thou comest, glorious King,

A manger low Thy bed,

In winter's icy sting;

O my dearest Child most holy,

Shudd'ring, trembling in the cold!

Great God, Thou lovest me!

What suff'ring Thou didst bear,

That I near Thee might be!

2. Thou art the world's Creator,

God's own and true Word,

Yet here no robe, no fire

For Thee, Divine Lord.

Dearest, fairest, sweetest Infant,

Dire this state of poverty.

The more I care for Thee,

Since Thou, O Love Divine,

Will'st now so poor to be

* Why is this a special favourite you ask? Well, after all it is called Canzone de Zampognari and how can a piper not like a carol associated particularly with the pipes? But there is another reason as well: when I first started playing bagpipes (the Scottish ones, of course) my Auntie Ginia (an Italian great aunt) told me that her great grandfather, back in Italy, had played bagpipes. Indeed the Abruzzi region where the Italian side of the family comes from, has a strong piping tradition, which makes me feel like I am carrying on that tradition, for all I am on Highland pipes, rather than Italian ones. Furthermore, there is an Italian legend of a Christmas piper playing for Our Lady on the night Christ was born, and while this obviously is not the tune that would have been played, it puts me in mind of that legend as well, and makes me rather proud of being a piper.