“Hark the herald angels sing” was written by Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley who founded the Methodist church, in 1739. A rather sombre man, he requested slow and solemn music for his lyrics and thus “Hark the herald angels sing” was sung to a different tune initially. Over a hundred years later Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) composed a cantata in 1840 to commemorate Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. English musician William H. Cummings adapted Mendelssohn’s music to fit the lyrics “Hark the herald angels sing” written by Wesley |
