Cantique de Noël

Adolphe Adam’s gift for pleasing the famously volatile Parisian theatre crowd, gained through such box-office hits as the opera Le postillon de Lonjumeau (1836) and the ballet Giselle (1841), underpins the ravishing melody of one of the best-loved of all Christmas songs. “Cantique de Noël”, known to the English-speaking world as “O Holy Night”, evokes the atmosphere of rapt anticipation on the eve of Christ’s birth and channels it into an expression of pure joy at the coming of mankind’s redeemer. Adam received the carol’s text in 1847 from the operatic soprano Emily Laurey, who had discovered it while staying in the small French town of Roquemaure. Its heartfelt words, penned four years earlier by the poet and wine merchant Placide Cappeau to mark the restoration of the organ in Roquemaure’s parish church, inspired Adam to produce a lyrical masterwork destined to find international fame following the 1855 publication of John Sullivan Dwight’s English translation. Enrico Caruso’s 1916 recording set the precedent for countless cover versions, although few have matched the great Italian tenor’s regal interpretation.