In 1866, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of America's premier poets, published a poem that he called "Christmas Bells." In it, he bared the anguish of his soul, much afflicted by personal tragedy, but also affirmed his faith in the ultimate notion of "peace on earth, good will to men."
Some years earlier English organist John Baptiste Calkin had written a hymn tune he called "Waltham," which had echoes of ringing bells. Whether Calkin paired his music with Longfellow's words or whether some person did it remains a mystery, but sometime after 1872, the two became indelibly linked as the beloved carol "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."
The story of the carol was beautifully told at last year's Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, by actor Edward K. Herrmann. He told of the joy the Wadsworth family found at the Christmas season; how they and the rest of the country became caught up in the Civil War; how Wadsworth lost his beloved wife, Fanny, in an accidental fire; how his eldest son was grievously wounded in battle. He told of how in despair, Longfellow could not find the peace he sought, until the message of the Christmas bells struck a chord deep within his soul.
For this Christmas season, Deseret Book has released a children's book, authored by Lloyd and Karmel Newell and illustrated by Dan Burr, which tells the story of Longfellow's poem. The book also contains a DVD of Herrmann's narration, with music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, as well as a printed copy of the words.
"I had the time of my life, working with the choir last year," Herrmann said, in a telephone chat from his home in Connecticut. "I'm still not sure how I got to do it. I'm not LDS, but my wife is, and I thought maybe she pulled some strings, but she said no she didn't."
However he got the job, Herrmann is so grateful he did. "I have to say that I've worked in many venues, on many first-class movie and film productions, but I've never worked with 700 people who were so well-managed and so agreeable. There were no egos. There was no muss or fuss." He was impressed by the professionalism of both the choir and the orchestra, he said, "and every night, it was quite the audience. We just had an extraordinarily good time."
That's saying something for the man who is now "pushing 50 years" on stage and screen, playing everyone from Franklin D. Roosevelt (several times) to George Bernard Shaw, Lou Gehrig, Alger Hiss and William Randolph Hearst to a ton of fictional characters. He won a Tony Award for "Mrs. Warren's Profession" and has become a popular narrator for audiobooks. He has recorded works by Robert Ludlum, Annie Proulx, Ayn Rand, H.G. Wells, David McCullough, David Halberstam, Clive Cussler, and a whole lot of others.
He met his wife in Utah, on the set of "Harry's War," produced by Kieth Merrill in 1981, So, of course, he says, that was one of his favorite projects. But he also loved his work as FDR. "You rarely get such a project where everything works, where it all comes together so nicely. I got to meet all the family, and that was quite something. It's considered by many to be one of the greatest made-for-TV movies ever."
Herrmann will also return to Utah in December to work on "a little indie called 'Rootbeer Christmas.' It will be filmed in Provo, where my wife has a condo, and we'll spend about three weeks there, so we're very excited about that."
But nothing has been quite like his experience with Longfellow. "I had heard bits of the story, but I didn't know all the details. And the narration was so beautifully written."
What he took away from the experience, he said, "was such a feeling of hope, that whatever happens, inner strength can carry you through. If you look for it, wait for it, it will come."
The world needs that reassurance now as much as it did in Longfellow's time, he said. "To be able to put myself in his shoes, to imagine what he went through to write that extraordinary poem reaffirmed all the beliefs that I have that people need love and hope, that they are eternal. It was very reassuring."
And he loved that they could share that message, and continue to share it through the book, with so many people. At the concerts, "to have 25,000 people responding to that message in the way they did, was incredible."
When you really come down to it, he said, "my work in theater doesn't amount to much, except maybe to my children. But every now and then someone will come up to me and say, 'I saw you 35 years ago in some obscure play that really meant something to me.' As actors, we should never forget the impact we can have on lives. So many of them tend to squander the power they can have for good."
In today's world it is easy to fall into negativity and cynicism, he said. "It's up to us who get to do what we so love to do, to give an example of humor and gallantry and hope. People need love and hope. They need to know that life is worth living."
So, yes, Herrmann said, "this was a wonderful opportunity and I'm extremely grateful for it."
e-mail: carma@desnews.com