Il Est Né, Le Divin Enfant: A Song History

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"Il est né, le divin Enfant" ("He is born, the divine Child") is often called the best-known traditional carol in France[1]. The earliest printing of its melody found in the sources consulted here dates from 1862, when Romary Grosjean published Airs des noëls lorrains at Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, a book of Lorraine carol tunes arranged for organ or harmonium. The Bibliothèque nationale de France catalogue lists the tune there under the carol's title, with the note "ancien air de chasse," an old hunting air[2]. The hymnologist C. Michael Hawn places the French words in Dom G. Legeay's Noëls anciens of 1875–76[1], and the Traditional Tune Archive describes that collection as the text's first publication[3].

François Boucher sketch of shepherds kneeling around the newborn child while angels gather in the light above

François Boucher, The Adoration of the Shepherds, gouache over black chalk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). A French Nativity scene shown for its subject; it has no connection to the carol’s history.

Where the carol began is much less certain, and later writers disagree. The Tune Archive connects the melody with a seventeenth-century Normandy hunting tune, "Tête bizarde," while admitting that the two differ in meter[3]. Hawn, on the other hand, places the carol in Provence[1], and Hyperion Records' notes leave the choice open between Normandy and Provence[4]. None of the sources consulted here documents any of these origins with a printing earlier than Grosjean's, so it is safest to call the carol traditional French and leave its birthplace open. Gabriel Fauré scored the carol with winds and strings for Christmas 1888[5], and the Tune Archive notes its use as a contra march, giving a version from the New England Fiddler's Repertoire (1983)[3].

The carol has been put into English more than once. Hawn identifies the most widely sung English version as George K. Evans's, which first appeared in The International Book of Christmas Carols (1963), compiled by Walter Ehret[1]. It has since found a place in English-language hymnals: The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) prints it as "He Is Born," with an anonymous translation, a refrain in both English and French, and a harmonization by Carlton R. Young[6]; The Worshiping Church (1990) uses Donald P. Hustad's harmonization[7]; and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose French and Tahitian hymnbooks include the carol, presents it in English as "He Is Born, the Divine Christ Child"[8].

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Sources

  1. Discipleship Ministries (C. Michael Hawn): "History of Hymns: French carol 'He Is Born' celebrates joyous season".
  2. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Catalogue général: "Airs des noëls lorrains recueillis et arrangés pour orgue ou harmonium / par R. Grosjean".
  3. Traditional Tune Archive: "Il est Né".
  4. Hyperion Records: "Il est né, le divin enfant (Anon/Halsey)".
  5. Carus-Verlag: "Gabriel Fauré: Noël d'enfants; Il est né le divin enfant".
  6. Hymnary.org: "He Is Born" (The United Methodist Hymnal, no. 228).
  7. Hymnary.org: "He Is Born, the Divine Christ Child" (The Worshiping Church, no. 177).
  8. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: "About the Hymns: He Is Born, the Divine Christ Child".