''The New Oxford Book of Carols'' is a collection of

vocal score The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production ...

s of

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) 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 ori ...

s. It was first published in 1992 by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(OUP) and was edited by Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott. It is a widely used source of carols in among

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

s and church congregations in Britain. The collection was published as a successor to the ''

Oxford Book of Carols ''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. I ...

'', originally published in 1928. This thoroughly documented text contains notes on sources, histories and variants of carols from a wide variety of sources; it is usable not only as a book for carol singing, but as a reference book as well. A ''Shorter New Oxford Book of Carols'' was issued in 1992, and other selections have been made.

History

The original ''Oxford Book of Carols'' was first published in 1928 by OUP. It was edited by

Percy Dearmer Percival Dearmer (1867–1936) was an English priest and liturgist best known as the author of ''The Parson's Handbook'', a liturgical manual for Anglican clergy, and as editor of ''The English Hymnal''. A lifelong socialist, he was an early ad ...

Martin Shaw Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He came to national recognition as Doyle in ITV crime-action television drama series '' The Professionals'' (1977–1983). Further notable television parts include the title roles in '' ...

, and the noted composer and scholar of

English folk-song The folk music of England is a tradition-based music which has existed since the later medieval period. It is often contrasted with courtly, classical and later commercial music. Folk music traditionally was preserved and passed on orally wit ...

Ralph Vaughan Williams. The book was highly influential as it introduced British choirs and church congregations (who were more accustomed to Victorian hymn tunes) to a form of Christmas music rooted in traditional folk music. ''The New Oxford Book of Carols'' started life as a recording tie-in project with

Faber Music Faber Music is a British sheet music publisher best known for contemporary classical music. It also publishes music tutor books, and in 2005 acquired popular music publisher International Music Publications. Faber Music has close relations to ...

, consisting of a limited number of carols. Under the direction of OUP's senior editor Julian Elloway, the project grew beyond its initial concept to a published collection of 201 vocal pieces accompanied by a substantial body of historically informed arranging and editorial commentary. The volume contains two essays, and each carol is accompanied by detailed annotations; this supporting editorial material is considered to be a valuable resource for historians, church musicians, and musicologists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Oxford Book of Carols, The 1992 non-fiction books Music books Christmas carol collections Carols, Oxford Book Of

History

See also

References