Evans and Nordqvist, Jul, jul, strålande jul

Composed in 1921 by Gustaf Nordqvist and Edvard Evans, Jul, jul, strålande jul has become a Christmas standard in Sweden. My search for an English translation turned up very little, and that suggests to me that the song has not gained a wide audience in the English-speaking world. The text (which I’ve done my best to render in English) seems very well suited to the season of Advent.

The feast day of St. Lucy, the patron saint of Sweden, falls on December 13 (yesterday). We have written about St. Lucy in past Advent Calendars and the candlelight celebrations that mark her feast. As beautifully explained by the rector at the Old Swedes’ Church in Philadelphia, Lucy (lux, lucia) is associated with light—something in short supply at this time of year at Sweden’s latitude. While Jul, jul, strålande jul makes no reference to St. Lucy, it evokes the imagery of light. This jazzy arrangement by Winnie Brückner highlights the sparkling and glittering in the music.

The performance is by a group from the Liszt Conservatory in Weimar. We seem to spend a lot of time on this site talking about Weimar. Of course, we are intimately familiar with Weimar since it has been our second home for the past seventeen years. But it became our second home precisely because it offers such a rich cultural heritage. We can only guess what Bach and Liszt might have thought of these jazz harmonies if they were to visit the conservatory today.