O Holy Night (Cantique de Noël) - Adolphe Adam (Arr. Francesco Parrino)

This beautiful Christmas song was based on the French-language poem Minuit, chrétiens, written in 1847 by poet Placide Cappeau, set to music by composer Adolphe Adam, who also composed two of my favorite ballets, Giselle (1841) and Le corsaire (1856). Placide Cappeau, who was a wine commissionaire and a part-time poet, was asked by the parish priest to write a new song to be sung at Christmas midnight mass at a church he frequently attended in Roquemaure, France. The words are based on the Nativity of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, and were inspired by the idea of being a witness of the event. Cappeau requested that Adolphe Adam set the poem to music, and Adam completed the composition within a few days. It is the most popular Christmas carol in France. Francesco Parrino, who created the arrangement I am playing today, is a Steinway Artist and Italian pianist from Parma who creates innovative arrangements of pop, film, and traditional music. He is a classically trained pianist and composer who began playing the piano at the age of four and went on to graduate summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music in Classical Piano from the prestigious Arrigo Boito Music Conservatory in Italy.