McBrayer: Chains shall he break
Ronnie McBrayer
It was Advent 1843, and the French village of Roquemaure was preparing to celebrate both the season and the restoration of the church’s pipe organ. The parish priest asked a local wine distributer who had a reputation as a poet, Placide Cappeau, to write a poem in honor of the dual celebrations.
By Cappeau’s claim, he began working on the poem in a stagecoach. He was on his way to Paris while imagining the first Christmas. His final work, “Minuit, Chrétiens” was a masterpiece of Nativity wonder, and upon hearing it recited a few years later, Cappeau’s friend, Adolphe Adams, put the poem to music.