Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

A Christmas carol that first appeared in 1739 in the collection 'Hymns and Sacred Poems' by Charles Wesley. Wesley's original opening lines were "Hark how all the welkin rings / Glory to the King of Kings," but in 1753, George Whitefield revised the text to the now-familiar "Hark! the herald angels sing / Glory to the newborn King." The melody universally associated with the carol was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840 for a secular cantata commemorating Gutenberg's printing press, and English musician William H. Cummings adapted this tune to fit the lyrics in 1855.