The library · Christmas
Il est né le divin enfant (He Is Born)
Traditional French carol
An old hunting-horn call turned Christmas carol: a refrain built almost entirely on F, A and C, then a verse that climbs a step higher.
F major · 4/4 · 120 beats per minute · 24 bars · 48 s · intermediate level
A hunting call turned Christmas carol
The words appear at the start of the 19th century, as early as 1818, in French hymn books, and the tune is
written down by 1819. The first books ask for the words to be sung to a tune people already knew, Il est né,
cet Enfant royal: setting new words to familiar tunes was common practice.
Where does the tune come from? In 1862, Jean-Romary Grosjean published an organ arrangement of it among carols from
Lorraine and called it an "old hunting tune". In 1886, Julien Tiersot looked it up in hunting-horn
methods and found, under the name la Tête bizarde, an almost identical call, only written in six-eight
time. He also noticed that its scale matches the natural notes of the trumpet: that is why it sounds like a
call.
A refrain, a verse, and the refrain again
I have you play the carol the way it is sung: the refrain, the first verse ("Depuis plus de quatre mille ans"),
then the refrain. Twenty-four bars in F major, in four beats, which my map splits into four-bar
phrases:
- A (bars 1 to 4): "Il est né le divin enfant, jouez hautbois, résonnez musettes" ("He is born, the
divine child; play, oboes; sound, bagpipes"). The melody leaps between C, F and A, the notes
of the F chord, and stops in suspense on C (a half cadence).
- A' (5 to 8): the same opening, then "chantons tous son avènement" ("let us all sing of his coming"),
which ends on F (a perfect cadence).
- A'' (9 to 16): the verse, the same phrase twice. The melody climbs a step higher, between A and
D, and passes through the B-flat chord; each time it ends in suspense, on C.
- A and A' (17 to 24): the refrain comes back unchanged.
Four chords are enough for the whole carol: F, C, G minor and B-flat.
The form
The sections of the piece and their chords: the map you learn before playing a single note.
A A' A'' A'' A A'
The key
- F major
- 1 flat in the key signature: B♭
- Scale
- F · G · A · B♭ · C · D · E
- Pillar chords
- I = F · IV = B♭ · V7 = C7
The tricky passages
- Bar 5: fast runs (4.0 notes per second), a melodic leap (perfect fifth)
- Bar 17: fast runs (4.0 notes per second), a melodic leap (perfect fifth)
- Bar 21: fast runs (4.0 notes per second), a melodic leap (perfect fifth)
How to approach it
I rate it as intermediate, with a 8-day plan: the notes are simple, but the melody leaps a lot, and the
tempo is lively.
- Sing it first, even humming. Notice the two kinds of ending: in suspense on C, or settled on
F.
- The right hand: thumb on middle C, hand open up to the A; almost the whole refrain fits
under your fingers.
- The passages I flag: bars 5, 17 and 21, where the melody drops suddenly to the low C to start
"Il est né" again. Prepare the leap during the note before it.
- The left hand: one chord per bar, two in the cadence bars. Play them as block chords before adding the
melody.
That's how my plan moves forward: the map, the chord framework, each phrase one after another, the tricky
passages, then everything put together and brought up to tempo, all the way to playing it by heart.