God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen

I think this is a rather splendid treatment of an old faithful carol. I had a problem with the last section in that the jaunty version of the tune became an earworm that kept me awake at night!

The words of the carol are well-known, but, in my experience very few people (including - possibly, especially - native English speakers) know what the first line means. "Rest" used to have the meaning of "keep," and "merry" had the meaning of "peaceful." The comma, therefore, very definitely goes after "merry" and not "you" as is sometimes seen.

Michael Helman (b 1956) is currently Director of Music/Organist at Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape Coral, Florida where he directs the Faith choir, a graded handbell program from children through adults, and coordinates the church’s Concert Series. Prior to moving to Florida in 2006, Michael was Director of Music/Organist for fifteen years at St. Paul’s United Methodist in Wilmington, Delaware.