O du fröhliche is usually sung in English as O, How Joyfully. The vocal source upon which it is drawn was a Marian hymn of Sicilian origin, O Sanctissima, which dates to the eighteenth century. In 1816, that hymn was translated into German by Johannes Daniel Falk (1768-1826), who entitled his effort O du fröhliche. There are other versions of the hymn in other languages, but Falk's may be the best known. The O Sanctissima theme is well known, popularized in the English version of the hymn O Most Holy One, as well as in the various other translated renditions. The melody begins with a vigorous, emphatic six-note phrase that repeats, after which the music reaches a sort of incandescent serenity in the way it swells and seems to gloriously rise. Yet it remains in a relatively restricted vocal range and does not actually soar upward until after the second subject is reached, whereupon it concludes with a series of lovely, descending notes. Falk's text speaks of "how joyfully" and "how merrily" Christmas arrives. With its memorable tune and words, it is hardly surprising this has long been a popular Christmas carol.

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