"IS IT TIME TO BE JOLLY?"
Christmases would not be the same without the traditional Christmas carols
Nothing is more nicer than sitting down in a comfortable armchair on
Christmas Eve in front of a blazing fire listening to the carols on the
radio with a hot drink and the Christmas tree nicely decorated and lit
up in the corner of the room, the last time to relax before the excitement
of Christmas Day.
Surprisingly it was dancing not singing that gave rise to the earliest
known medieval carols. The word comes from the French word caroller,
meaning to dance in a circle. Even the clergy were allowed to join in
provided they kept their feet on the ground- no unseemly leaping for them!
Franciscan friars brought the' Carole' to this country in the 13-century.
Carols were written for all sorts of occasions but it wasn't until Victorian
times that they became associated solely with Christmas.
"HARK, THE HERALD ANGELS SING"
In Charles Wesley's original version the first line was "Hark how
the welkin rings" (welkin being another word for heaven) but he was
persuaded by a fellow Methodist to change it to the opening we know
so well. When Dr William Cummings set Wesley's lyrics to music written
by Felix Mendelssohn he went against both men's known wishes Wesley
who wrote the words in 1739, had specifically requested that they
should be sung to show solemn music. For his party Mendelssohn had
made it clear that his music was not for religious use. Fortunately
for us neither of them was still around in 1855 to protest at Dr
Cummings inspired adaptation of their work.
"THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS"
The 12 days of the title refer to the period that starts on December 25
and ends on January 6 (Epiphany)' Their version we sing today was first
printed in 1864 but was a popular song long before that date. It was
originally sung as a memory game with each singer taking it in turn to
add their own verse as well as remembering all the previous ones anyone
who missed something out had to pay a forfeit. Many people believe that
the song only acquired a religious significance when Roman Catholic worships
was made illegal in England and each verse is secretly symbolic of the
catechism Thus the two turtle doves represent the Old and New Testaments
while the three French hens are the Christian virtues of faith, hope and
charity and the four calling birds stand for the gospels.
"GOOD KING WENCESLAS"
The words were written in 1853 by John Mason Neale who chose the tune of
an old spring carol (Tempus adest floridum) for his tale of a tenth century
King of Bohemia. Its often pointed out that perhaps this carol should be
called a Boxing Day carol as, it is on December 26th (the feast of Stephen)
that King Wenceslas and his page performed their charitable deed. Although
his father was a Christian Wenceslas's mother was from a pagan tribe. After
his father's early death the young prince continued in his faith under the
guidance of his grandmother until he ascended the throne aged 18 but four
years later he met a gruesome end when he was stabbed to death in a chapel
by his jealous brother Boleslav.
"GOD REST YOU MERRY GENTLEMEN"
In Charles Dickens' A Christmas carol, this was the song that an unwise
young lad tried to sing through Scrooge's key-hole but at the first sound
Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled
in terror leaving the key-hole to the fog and even more congenial frost
First published in 1883 in a collection of seasonal carols by William B
Sandys the lyrics are thought to date back as far as the 15th century
making it one of the oldest carols still sung today Tradition has it that
it was sung by town watchman to the gentry to earn themselves some useful
extra money during the festive season. Purist like to point out that God
rest you merry means 'God keep you merry' and it's therefore misleading
to insert a comma between 'you' and 'merry', as sometimes happens.
"IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER"
This very English carol has Italian and Swedish connections, originally
written as a poem by Christina Georgina Rosetti (1830-94) it was first
used as a hymn in The English Hymnal published in 1906 Christina a devout
Anglican was the sister of the pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti
and the daughter of an Italian refugee who was Professor of Italian at
Kings College London. She was engaged to another pre-Raphaelite James Collinson
who agreed to leave the Roman Catholic faith so that they could marry He later
changed his mind and the engagement was broken off. And the Swedish link? In The
Bleak Midwinter is sung to the tune Cranham that was specially composed for it
by Gustav Theodore Holst (1874-1934) who had an English mother and a Swedish
father the tune is named after his birthplace a village near Cheltenham in
Gloucestershire.
I hope you enjoy the rest
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Last Updated: 6th NOVEMBER 2005
