Birthed as it was on the eve of another revolution, Cappeau and Adam’s song was praised by French poet Alphonse de Lamartine as “a religious Marseillaise” — referencing the 1792 song that became the ...
Already controversial in in France, “Cantique de Noël” made some people uneasy; but in America, the English translation into “O Holy Night” dumped gasoline on a fire.