Here are the lyrics to Tu scendi dalle stelle from Italy, in Italian and with an English translation…
Tu scendi dalle stelle
(Italian)Tu scendi dalle stelle
O Re del Cielo
E vieni in una grotta
Al freddo al gelo.
E vieni in una grotta
Al freddo al gelo.O Bambino mio Divino
Io ti vedo qui a tremar,
O Dio Beato
Ah, quanto ti costò
L’avermi amato.
Ah, quanto ti costò
L’avermi amato.A te che sei del mondo,
Il creatore
Mancano panni e fuoco,
O mio Signore.
Mancano panni e fuoco,
O mio Signore.Caro eletto, Pargoletto,
Quanto questa povertà,
Piu m’innamora
Giacche ti fece amor
Povero ancora.
Giacche ti fece amor
Povero ancora.Here’s a rough English translation of Tu scendi dalle stelle by Monique Palomares…
You Come Down from the Stars
(English)You come down from the stars
Oh King of Heavens,
And you come in a cave
In the cold, in the frost.
And you come in a cave
In the cold, in the frost.Oh my Divine Baby
I see you trembling here,
Oh Blessed God,
Ah, how much it cost you,
Your loving me.
Ah, how much it cost you,
Your loving me.For you, who are of all the world
The creator,
No robes and fire,
Oh my Lord.
No robes and fire,
Oh my Lord.Dear chosen one, little infant
This dire poverty,
Makes me love you more
Since Love made you
Poor now.
Since Love made you
Poor now.
Many thanks to Monique Palomares at Mama Lisa’s World en français for sending me the lyrics to Tu scendi dalle stelle and for the English translation.
For other Italian rhymes and children’s songs, visit Mama Lisa’s World’s Italy Page!
UPDATE: In a later blog entry, I reposted this song with 2 YouTube videos of Tu scendi dalle stelle. I chose those 2 videos because they’re enjoyable (of course!) and also because their styles widely differ from each other.
This article was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2005 at 4:47 pm and is filed under Children's Songs, Christmas, Christmas Songs, Countries & Cultures, Holiday Songs, Holidays Around the World, Italian, Italian Children's Songs, Italy, Languages, Tu scendi dalle stelle - You Come Down from the Stars, Tu scendi dalle stelle - You Come Down from the Stars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
77 Responses to “Italian Christmas Song “Tu scendi dalle stelle” – “You Come Down from the Stars””
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December 27th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Thanks for sharing! Is this the other song you sang as a child…
La notte di Natale è nato un bel bambino
bello, biondo e tutto ricciolino.
Maria lavava,
Giuseppe stendeva
suo figlio piangeva pel freddo che aveva.
Sta’ zitto, mio figlio,
ché adesso ti piglio,
pane non ho ma latte ti do.
La neve sui monti cadeva dal cielo,
Maria col suo velo copriva Gesù,
Maria col suo velo copriva Gesù.
Loose English Translation…
On Christmas night was born a beautiful baby
Beautiful, blond curly hair and all.
Mary washed,
Joseph stretched,
Their son was crying because of the cold he had.
Be quiet, my son,
What now’s the matter,
I don’t have bread, but I’ll give you milk.
The snow on the mountains fell from the sky
Mary with her veil covered Jesus
Mary with her veil covered Jesus.
Cheers!
Mama Lisa
December 29th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
This Christmas Carol still gives me the shivers every time I hear it. It is the most beautiful carol I know.
July 25th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Buon giorno, Signora Lisa,
I remember singing this song as a small child. When our masses were in latin, we sang this at midnight mass. I wish the latin mass would come back again. Listening to Italian songs lifts my heart as my father was from a town in Italy named Amantea, which is in the province of Consenza. He was a very talented guitarist and singer. The Italian songs I’ve learned came from my father’s teachings. I always remembered the first verse, of this song, and only some of the second verse and it was driving me crazy trying to remember all of the words. If daddy was still alive, I would not have had a problem but he passed away 22 yrs. ago. I played the accordian and had the sheet music but it has been misplaced. Remembering back according to the sheet music, the correct title of this song is: La Pastorle and not Tu Scendi Dalle Stella. None the less, how wonderful to have found you. I’m ecstatic! Thank you so much devoting so much of your time to make others happy. Bene’ Dio, signore e’ grazie tanti.
September 21st, 2010 at 9:25 pm
I am looking for sheet music for Caro Gesu Bambino..can you help?
September 26th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Diana,
Just wanted to let you know that my home town is next to Amantea in Cosenza Italy. I was born in Fiumefreddo Bruzio, Cosenza. And I always remember everyone singing this song at christmas time when we lived in the Bronx at Our Lady of Mt Carmel Chruch Arthur Ave. Thank goodness it was all Italian. I might have forgotten many of the good things had I not grown up in that area of NYC.
November 22nd, 2010 at 8:51 am
Hello Lisa
I live in England, but this Christmas song has wonderful memories for me of Christmas spent in a small village called Valvori in Lazio, while visiting relatives there. The little church full for midnight mass and the heat from hundreds of candles keeping us warm in the front row. We sang this song then, and also when we visited the many presepe, accompanied by the sound of the piffero and the zampogna. Wonderful! So thank you for this website. Now I can teach it to my little grandson Enzo.
November 22nd, 2010 at 11:24 am
Hello Lisa
Although I am only half Italian on my mother’s side, growing up in the Italian parish of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Williamsburg, Brooklyln, a parish rich in Italian tradition all year long, this song has meant alot to everyone there. It was usually sung at the end of midnight mass when the baby Jesus was carried in procession throughout the church. Although I have sinced moved, my family begins our traditional Italian Christmas eve dinner by passing the “bambino” around our dinner table accompanied by this song. Thanks for printing the words, maybe we’ll sing along this year!
Boun Natale
December 4th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
I bought a tape of this carol many years ago at the Church in Assisi. I attend Ss. Peter & Paul Italian church in San Francisco and have been looking for the words so I can join in the singing at Midnight Mass.
Grazie tante e Buon Natale!
December 5th, 2010 at 12:29 am
I just came across this site…..Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle was my Dad’s favourite Christmas song! He recently passed away and I thought I would never get the chance to hear it again. He would hum or sing it almost all year long. It was one of my favourites at midnight mass too, unfortunately, our one and only Italian church closed….sign of the times. Thanks for the words too…,I really only knew half of them and would hum the rest! I am going to find it on the youtube link you posted right now…..thanks again for keeping tradition alive :)
December 6th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
i needed this website for my project at school and it was a good help.
December 11th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I remember being so moved by watching my mother sing this song at a Christmas Eve mass thirty two years ago when I was expecting our first child. I still get emotional when I hear this song.
December 12th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
merry christmas
December 17th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
I have performed this carol for the last few years and in my research have found some interesting things about it.
It appears to have originated in northern Italy tradition when in the distant past shepherds descended to small hill towns to form musical processions singing and accompanying the songs with the piffero and the zampogna. It was known as the Bagpipers Carol.
In addition to many beautiful Italian versions recorded, Paddy Maloney of the Irish musical group “The Cheiftains” made a beautiful Christmas recording a few years back in which he used this theme as an overture. Also American folksinger Pete Seeger created english lyrics based on what he thought the original shepherds would have expressed.
December 18th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
I found this song, Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle by Brittany Mruceck on You-Tube in 2009. It’s half in english and half in Italian. It’s the most beautiful version I have heard since I left Italy in 1955. She has a beautiful and gifted voice. Thank you, Buon Natale a tutti.
December 21st, 2010 at 7:37 pm
My mother used to sing Tu Scendi Da Lestelle to me when I was a little boy. It’s the most beautiful Christmas song for the season.
Buon Natale ‘e Buon Cappo ‘d Anno a tutti
October 24th, 2011 at 5:45 pm
The composer of this beautiful Italian Christmas carol is St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorists and a doctor of the church. We have produced all of his music along with his prayers on a three CD set — Praying the Rosary, Praying the Seven Sorrows of Mary, and Praying the Way of the Cross, which features the actor, Liam Neeson — which is available through iTunes or at http://www.littlelambmusic.com
October 30th, 2011 at 9:08 pm
Che bella
December 1st, 2011 at 12:48 pm
My father, who had a wonderful tenor voice, used to sing “Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle” anytime he was performing a mindless task. He would often sing the entire song during the Christmas season while he was tending bar at our family tavern and restaurant, and the customers would stop talking until he finished the last note. Every time I hear this song, I picture my father strolling throughout the tavern, all the while singing the tune as his listeners are in thrall. I have never been able to listen to this song without shedding a tear in my father’s memory. The tune is heartwarming and the lyrics are such that they certainly capture the very essence of the Christmas story of “O Bambino Divino.”
December 9th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
its a good song but i think that it could be a little bit more christmassy :) :( ;) ;( :] :[ :} :{ :D:P <3 thankyou
December 31st, 2011 at 11:39 pm
It’s so good to find your Italian lyrics and its English translation of this beautiful song! I first learned this song in an International School on Humanities and Philosophy which was brought in by people from Europe in the 1960’s. When I heard it sang by Andrea Bocelli in his 2010 Christmas Concert with David Foster, it not only brought so much warmth of Christmas spirit in our home, it made me realize that Christmas is really the gift of love Christ opened for us in His own self-giving! I realized that becoming man for us, which started from Mary’s womb, was so much more emphasized in that cold night when He was born. In spite of the coldness outside the little manger, so much love came in starting from His own mother and His own father! Christmas is always a time I could recover that warmth and sweetness of the beautiful child. In spite of the poor stable and the cold night that man offered to Him as “welcome”, so much love and joy came to sweeten the bitterness we feel… because even if he is God, he made himself so cute and lovable…I forget my fear of going close and whispering sweet things to renew my love, and the courage to face more challenges…for love. Merry Crhistmas to all!!!
January 14th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
I AM LOOKING FOR THE FULL ROSARY SAID IN ITALIAN ON CD DO YOU KNOW WHERE I CAN GET IT
August 21st, 2012 at 7:49 pm
este canto é muito bonito vou canta-lo no recital de natal aqui no Brasil o pais mais belo do mundo.
English Translation:
This song is very beautiful we’ll sing it in a Christmas recital here in Brazil, the most beautiful country in the world.
October 27th, 2014 at 9:47 pm
I am looking for the the full version of the Italian Christmas Carol
Tu Scendi Delle Stelle ,its a Beautiful christmas carol please can any one help be so greatful
October 27th, 2014 at 10:17 pm
Evelyn, you can find it on Mama Lisa’s World “Tu scendi dalle stelle” page with an English translation.
December 12th, 2016 at 3:27 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd2SKxUs2gM
A beautiful version from St. Peters with Pope Benedict
July 22nd, 2018 at 4:53 am
Beautiful song. I heard it from the first time from Luciano Pavarotti A Christmas in Vienna
August 1st, 2020 at 1:19 pm
Reading the Universalis ‘About Today’ information, I just learned that this song – I’d never heard it before – was composed by Saint Alphonsus Liguori. Today – August 1st – is his feast day. Trying to find the song and its lyrics, I ultimately ended up on your page. The translation is beautiful and in response to an earlier comment, I can’t think of a way for it to be more “Christmasy”.