The legend is based on the life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia or Svatý Václav in Czech (907–935). Wenceslas was considered a martyr and a saint immediately after his death in the 10th century, when a cult of Wenceslas grew up in Bohemia and in England. Several centuries later the legend was claimed as fact by Pope Pious II, who himself also walked ten miles barefoot in the ice and snow as an act of pious thanksgiving. In the key of C, this is a historical story and carol, and plays nicely in this key. It has several examples of playing several chords over the same note. A great chord study in C.
Video 1: Good King Wenceslas. Introduction, Performance and Explanation. Right and left hand
Video 2: A Left hand perspective on Good King Wenceslas
There are two lessons on this video. We want you to listen to and then play a "Melody only", phrase by phrase, version of the song, so you hear the beauty of the melody. Then, similarly we want you to listen to and then play through a "Chords only" version where you can strum the strings, or in the spirit of fingerstyle traditions, begin to use your right hand thumb and fingers to play block chords. Good exercises for any player.…’specially the listening part.