Jingle Bells

Jingle Bells ( approximately Sounds (her) bell; meant the clamps are on the harness ) is a winter song, 1850-1857 by American composer James Lord Pierpont ( 1822-1893 ) ( often mistakenly James S. Pierpont ) under the title "The One Horse Open sleigh " (open one-horse sleigh ) composed and was published in 1857 at Oliver Ditson & Co. ( Boston).

1859 the song was released again, this time under the name known to date Jingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh. Jingle Bells is not a Christmas song, contrary to popular assumption, since the Christmas is not mentioned in the song. It is rather a song about sleigh races of young people.

History

For history, there are several variants, since it is not considered secured, where James Lord Pierpont, who was an uncle of billionaire John Pierpont Morgan, who composed the song. The two locations of Savannah (Georgia ) and Medford (near Boston in Massachusetts ) take the place of origin in each case for itself.

Medford

1851 visited James Pierpont Otis Waterman in Medford, which had him play at their home on the only piano of the city, which belonged to her neighbor William Webber. Otis Waterman was the owner of the pension Seccomb Boarding House, later the Simpson Tavern. After Pierpoint had played her the song Otis Waterman was the piece as "very merry little jingle ," which is said to have inspired him to later titles. Pierpont immediately wrote the text on the " one-horse open sleigh " the one-horse open sleigh, in which young men drove on a mile-long snowy route on Salem Street between Medfort and Malden Square to the bet.

About this visit reported 1946 Stella Howe, the great-niece of Mary Gleason Waterman, who continued the Seccomb Boarding House, the The Boston Globe. Ace Collins, author of the book published in 2001 "Stories Behind the Best - Loved Songs of Christmas ," found a report in a newspaper from New England in the early 1840s about the premiere of " One Horse Open Sleigh" during a Thanksgiving service in Medford. The song was so well received by the community, that the speaker end children were asked again at Christmas Mass, to sing the song - since that time the piece is considered Christmas song.

Savannah

Until 1969 doubted Milton Rahn, a Unitarian from Savannah in Georgia, the Medforder version. As in 1857 on the song, the copyright is assigned, James Pierpont worked as organist and choir director at the Unitarian Church in Savannah, where his older brother John Pierpont served as pastor. James Pierpont married shortly before awarding the copyrights his second wife, the daughter of the Mayor of Savannah, Eliza Jane Purse. The house, which is believed that the song was composed there, is located near the Oglethorpe Street and Whitaker Street.

It is believed that Pierpont originally composed the song for worship on Thanksgiving day and rehearsed in Sunday school where he taught with the children. The approximately 40 children learned the lively melody and catchy lyrics by heart almost instantly. The song was so well received by the community, that the speaker end children were asked again at Christmas Mass, to sing the song - since that time the piece is considered Christmas song.

1985 built the city of Savannah a plaque opposite the church, and then- Mayor John Rousakis explained the song to a " Savannah Song". Between Rousakis and the Medforder Mayor Michael McGlynn in 1989 a little friendly correspondence relaxing.

Verse and Melody

In the original, the melody of the chorus from the present version differs. It is not known who made ​​the change, possibly the melody has been simplified by the singing school children over time. The text is slightly different from today's version. (The original words are in the lower brackets. ) The first verse and the chorus are the most commonly sung parts of the song.

Jingle Bells in Space

Jingle Bells was the first song, which was broadcast from space. On December 16, 1965, Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra allowed a joke with the ground control station. They reported:

The astronauts then brought out a secret battered harmonica and a clamp band and transferred their performance of the song Jingle Bells. The harmonica and the clamp band were the first musical instruments that were played in space. You are now in the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution.

Jingle Bells in other languages

In Germany in 1968 brought a little white snowman to greater fame a version of the song by Roy Black with the title.

Another German version, whose author is unknown, is:

In France, wrote Francis Blanche (1919-1974), 1948, the nationally known verses Vive le vent to the melody.

In German-speaking Switzerland there is a Zurich German text version on the pre-Christmas Guetslibacken Zimetschtern han i gärn by Andrew Bond, which was first published in 1998.