(originally posted Dec 4, 2005)
Italians aren’t as thrilled about carol-singing as us Anglo-Saxon types, but a few are so enthusiastic about singing of any kind that they make the effort to gather friends for a seasonal songfest. Like our friend Roberto.
Lyrics for “Tu scendi dalle stelle” (with a rather overwrought English translation, and music) can be found here (thanks, Jacques!).
Here’s more on winter & Christmas in Italy:
- Travelling in Italy in Winter
- Bridging the Holidays
- Holiday Hell
- Winter Thoughts
- Christmas Greetings from Lecco
Do you know of an English translation of an Italian Christmas song that I could teach to second graders? Possibly about “La Befana?”
Thanks,
MaryAnn
I would like the words and music to the Italian Christmas Carol: Mille Cherubini
The link doesn’t work anymore, but several others I found quite quickly: http://www.feastofsaints.com/stachristmas.htm (with choral audio)
and http://www.mamalisa.com/blog/?cat=309 with a very homey string based octet video and links to other stuff like the sheet music and other Italian kids’ songs.
For kids, it’s probably best to shop around googling specifically “tu scendi dalle stelle” “from the stars” as the translations vary greatly (maybe since the original varies some too).