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A Christmas carol is a carol on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French origin. Christmas carols may be regarded as a subset of the broader category of Christmas music.
A carol is a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with Christian church worship, and sometimes accompanied by a dance. A caroller is someone who sings carols, and is said to be carolling.
Nine Lessons and Carols, also known as the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, is a service of Christian worship traditionally celebrated on or near Christmas Eve. The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in nine short Bible readings or lessons from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir anthems.
Sir John Stainer was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today, was very popular during his lifetime. His work as choir trainer and organist set standards for Anglican church music that are still influential. He was also active as an academic, becoming Heather Professor of Music at Oxford.
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is an English Christmas carol that first appeared in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems. The carol, based on Luke 2:14, tells of an angelic chorus singing praises to God. As it is known in the modern era, it features lyrical contributions from Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, two of the founding ministers of Methodism, with music adapted from "Vaterland, in deinen Gauen" by Felix Mendelssohn.
"The First Nowell", also known as "The First Noel ", is a traditional English Christmas carol with Cornish origins, most likely from the early modern period, although possibly earlier. It is listed as number 682 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
"I Saw Three Ships " is an English Christmas carol, listed as number 700 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The earliest printed version of "I Saw Three Ships" is from the 17th century, possibly Derbyshire, and was also published by William Sandys in 1833. The song was probably traditionally known as "As I Sat On a Sunny Bank", and was particularly popular in Cornwall.
"The Holly and the Ivy" is a traditional British folk Christmas carol, listed as number 514 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The song can be traced only as far as the early nineteenth century, but the lyrics reflect an association between holly and Christmas dating at least as far as medieval times. The lyrics and melody varied significantly in traditional communities, but the song has since become standardised. The version which is now popular was collected in 1909 by the English folk song collector Cecil Sharp in the market town of Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire, England, from a woman named Mary Clayton.
Once in Royal David's City is a Christmas carol originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. The carol was first published in 1848 in her hymnbook Hymns for Little Children. A year later, the English organist Henry Gauntlett discovered the poem and set it to music.
"O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a Christmas carol. Based on an 1868 text written by Phillips Brooks, the carol is popular on both sides of the Atlantic, but to different tunes: in The United States, to "St. Louis" by Brooks' collaborator, Lewis Redner; and in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland to "Forest Green", a tune collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and first published in the 1906 English Hymnal.
Monk's Gate is a hamlet in the civil parish of Nuthurst, in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the A281 road 3 miles (5 km) southeast from Horsham.
The Oxford Book of Carols is a collection of vocal scores of Christmas carols and carols of other seasons. It was first published in 1928 by Oxford University Press and was edited by Percy Dearmer, Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams. It became a widely used source of carols among choirs and church congregations in Britain.
Hodie is a cantata by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Composed between 1953 and 1954, it is the composer's last major choral-orchestral composition, and was premiered under his baton at Worcester Cathedral, as part of the Three Choirs Festival, on 8 September 1954. The piece is dedicated to Herbert Howells. The cantata, in 16 movements, is scored for chorus, boys' choir, organ and orchestra, and features tenor, baritone, and soprano soloists.
Henry Ramsden Bramley was an English clergyman and hymnologist perhaps best known for his collaborations with the composer Sir John Stainer. Along with earlier 19th-century composers such as William Sandys and John Mason Neale, Bramley and Stainer are credited with fuelling a Victorian revival of Christmas carols with their 1871 publication of Christmas Carols, New and Old, which popularised carols such as "The First Nowell", "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" and "The Holly and the Ivy".
"The truth sent from above" is an English folk carol of unknown authorship usually performed at Christmas. Collected in the early part of the 20th century by English folk song collectors in Shropshire and Herefordshire, a number of variations on the tune exist, but the text remains broadly similar. The first line of the carol is "This is the truth sent from above".
Come all you worthy gentlemen, sometimes referred to as the Somerset Carol, is an English folk carol of unknown authorship. It was collected from a Mr. Rapsey, of Bridgwater during the English Folk-song revival at the beginning of the 20th century by Cecil Sharp. It was first published in 1905 in Sharp and Marson's Folk songs from Somerset. According to Sharp, it is a variant of the carol God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.
Fantasia on Christmas Carols is a 1912 work for baritone, chorus, and orchestra by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The Lord at first did Adam make, alternatively The Lord at first had Adam made is a traditional English Christmas carol which was collected and first published in 1822 in Davies Gilbert's collection Some Ancient Christmas Carols...Formerly Sung in the West of England. The carol relates the events of Genesis, Chapter 3, relating the evils that have befallen humanity since that first fall and humanity's subsequent redemption; during Advent, a traditional theme is of the birth of Jesus being the coming of the "Second Adam".
The Gloucestershire Wassail, also known as "Wassail! Wassail! All Over the Town", "The Wassailing Bowl" and "Wassail Song" is an English Christmas carol from the county of Gloucestershire in England, dating back to at least the 18th century, but may be older.
References
- ↑ John Garden, The Christmas Carol Dance Book, (Earthly Delights, 2003)
- 1 2 On Christmas Night, www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com
- 1 2 Cecil Sharp, English Folk-Carols (London: Novello & Co., 1911), pp. 24-25.
- ↑ "The Sound of Sussex - what gave rise to its name?". Sussex Life. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ↑ Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer, Christmas Carols New and Old (London: Novello, Ewer & Co., ca 1878)
- ↑ Ralph Vaughan Williams, Eight Traditional English Carols, (Stainer & Bell, 1919)
- ↑ Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on Christmas Carols (Stainer & Bell, 1912)
- ↑ Erik Routley, "Sussex Carol" in The University Carol Book (reprint: Banks Music Publications, 2007)
- 1 2 Order of Service 2002, kings.cam.ac.uk
- ↑ Order of Service 2005, kings.cam.ac.uk, p.20
- ↑ Willcocks, Jacques, Carols for Choirs (Oxford University Press)
- ↑ Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer, Christmas Carols New and Old (London: Novello, Ewer & Co., ca 1878).
- ↑ Luke Wadding, A Smale Garland of pious and godly Songs (Ghent: n.p., 1684)
