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Carols
A carol is a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with Christian church worship, and sometimes accompanied by a dance. A caroller (or caroler) is someone who sings carols, and is said to be carolling (or caroling). Today the carol is represented almost exclusively by the Advent carol, the Christmas carol, and to a lesser extent by the Easter carol; however, despite their present association with religion, this has not always been the case. History The word ''carol'' is derived from the Old French word ''carole'', a circle dance accompanied by singers (in turn derived from the Latin ''choraula''). Carols were very popular as dance songs from the 1150s to the 1350s, after which their use expanded as processional songs sung during festivals, while others were written to accompany religious mystery plays (such as the " Coventry Carol", written before 1534). Sacred music was traditionally sung in Latin by clergy or appointed cantors of the Catholic churc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 origin. Christmas carols may be regarded as a subset of the broader category of Christmas music. History The first known Christmas hymns may be traced to 4th-century Rome. Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium, written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism. Corde natus ex Parentis ('' Of the Father's heart begotten'') by the Spanish poet Prudentius (d. 413) is still sung in some churches today. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas sequence (or prose) was introduced in Northern European monasteries, developing under Bernard of Clairvaux into a sequence of rhymed stanzas. In the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam of Saint Victor be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christmas Song
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject matter ranges from the nativity of Jesus Christ, to gift-giving and merrymaking, to cultural figures such as Santa Claus, among other topics. Many songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the canon for other reasons. While most Christmas songs prior to 1930 were of a traditional religious character, the Great Depression era of the 1930s brought a stream of songs of American origin, most of which did not explicitly reference the Christian nature of the holiday, but rather the more secular traditional Western themes and customs associated with Christmas. These included songs aimed at children such as " Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", as well as sentimental ballad-type song ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carols For Choirs
''Carols for Choirs'' is a collection of choral scores, predominantly of Christmas carols and hymns, first published in 1961 by Oxford University Press. It was edited by Sir David Willcocks and Reginald Jacques, and is a widely used source of carols in the British Anglican tradition and among British choral societies. A second volume was published in 1970, edited by David Willcocks and John Rutter, and the collection is now available in five volumes. A compendium edition was published later. In addition to music for Christmas, the collection also offers works that are suitable for other Christian festivals such as Advent and Epiphany. The books contain the most commonly performed carols and their harmony arrangements, with descants from the editors (mainly Willcocks) which have become the ''de facto'' standard descants for these tunes in the Anglican communion in the UK. Most of the arrangements were originally written for use by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge or the B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masters In This Hall
"Masters in This Hall" (alternative title: "Nowell, Sing We Clear") is a Christmas carol with words written around 1860 by the English poet and artist William Morris to an old French dance tune. The carol is moderately popular around the world but has not entered the canon of most popular carols. Tune The French composer Marin Marais composed the tune as a dance for his opera ''Alcyone'' of 1706, with the title ''Marche pour les Matelots''. The tune was subsequently included in Raoul Auger Feuillet's 1706 ''Recueil de contredanse'' along with a longways proper dance, ''La Matelotte'', which Feuillet had himself written to go with the tune.Anderson, Douglas D''Hymns and Carols for Christmas''Contains long and short versions of the lyrics, Accessed December 2009 In 1710 John Essex (d. 1744) published an English translation of Feuillet's work called, ''For the Further Improvement of Dancing'', in which the dance is given as ''The Female Saylor''. Words The words were written ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Studwell
William Emmett Studwell (18 March 1936 – 2 August 2010) was an American librarian who became known for his knowledge of carols. Biography William Studwell was born in Stamford, Connecticut and he studied history at the University of Connecticut. Fight songs The University of Notre Dame song is one of the most recognizable collegiate fight songs in the United States. Studwell ranked the song first, and said it was "more borrowed, more famous and, frankly, you just hear it more." Christmas carols Studwell had started to choose a carol for each year starting in 1986 when he chose the Ukrainian '' Carol of the Bells''. Studwell took an academic interest in carols which he had spent over 6,000 hours in study. Before Christmas each year he would announce the new carol and he would be invited to interviews with the media where he was quizzed on his choice. Studwell died in Bloomington Hospital Indiana University Health, formerly known as Clarian Health Partners, is a nonprofit he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ding Dong Merrily On High
"Ding Dong Merrily on High" is a Christmas carol. The tune first appeared as a secular dance tune known under the title "Branle de l'Official" in ''Orchésographie'', a dance book written by the French cleric, composer and writer Thoinot Arbeau, pen name of Jehan Tabourot (1519–1593). The words are by the English composer George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848–1934), and the carol was first published in 1924 in his ''The Cambridge Carol-Book: Being Fifty-two Songs for Christmas, Easter, And Other Seasons''. Woodward took an interest in church bell ringing, which no doubt aided him in writing it. Woodward was the author of several carol books, including '' Songs of Syon'' and ''The Cowley Carol Book''. The macaronic style is characteristic of Woodward’s delight in archaic poetry. Charles Wood harmonised the tune when it was published with Woodward's text in ''The Cambridge Carol Book''. More recently, Sir David Willcocks made an arrangement for the second book of ''Carols for Choi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coventry Carol
The "Coventry Carol" is an English Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was traditionally performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called '' The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors''. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew: the carol itself refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed, and takes the form of a lullaby sung by mothers of the doomed children. The music contains a well-known example of a Picardy third. The author is unknown; the oldest known text was written down by Robert Croo in 1534, and the oldest known setting of the melody dates from 1591. There are alternative, modern settings of the carol by Kenneth Leighton and another by Philip Stopford. History and text The carol is the second of three songs included in the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, a nativity play that was one of the Coventry Myst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Byrd
William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English composer of late Renaissance music. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native England and those on the continent. He is often coupled with John Dunstaple and Henry Purcell as England's most important early music composers. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard (the so-called Virginalist school), and consort music. Although he produced sacred music for Anglican services, sometime during the 1570s he became a Roman Catholic and wrote Catholic sacred music later in his life. Life Early life Birth and background Richard Byrd of Ingatestone, Essex was the grandfather of Thomas Byrd, who probably moved to London in the 15th century. Thereafter succeeding generations of the Byrd family are described as gentlemen. William Byrd was probably born in London, the third ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Ratcliffe Woodward
George Ratcliffe Woodward (27 December 1848 – 3 March 1934) was an English Anglican priest who wrote mostly religious verse, both original and translated from ancient authors. The best-known of these were written to fit traditional melodies, mainly of the Renaissance. He sometimes harmonised these melodies himself, but usually left this to his frequent collaborator, composer Charles Wood. Woodward was born at 26 Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, North West England, and educated at Elstree School, then located in Elstree, Hertfordshire, then Harrow School. In 1867 he won a Sayer Scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating in 1872, third class in the Classics Tripos. On 21 December 1874 he was ordained deacon by the Bishop of London, to serve as Assistant Curate at St Barnabas, Pimlico. In September 1882 he moved to St Mary and All Saints, Little Walsingham with Houghton St Giles, in Norfolk. Woodward played the cello, and the euphonium, sometimes in pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carol Symphony
''Carol Symphony'' is a collection of four preludes, written by Victor Hely-Hutchinson in 1927. It is based on five Christmas carols, given additional orchestration and counterpoint arrangements. The four movements are written to be played uninterrupted consecutively. History ''Carol Symphony'' was first performed by the Wireless Symphony Orchestra (the predecessor to the BBC Symphony Orchestra) on the BBC's 2LO radio station on 18 December 1927 conducted by John Barbirolli. The ''Radio Times'' describes the work thus: The composer tells us that in this last work he has tried to express the spirit of joy which is called up by the memories of the romance and mystery of the manger. All the four Movements are based on Christmas tunes, and are played without break. The First Movement, sedate in style and modelled closely on the Choral Preludes of Bach, treats the old tune we sing to ''O come, all ye faithful''. The Second Movement, the Scherzo, alternates between slow and fast treatm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Hely-Hutchinson
Christian Victor Noel Hope Hely-Hutchinson (26 December 1901 – 11 March 1947) was a British composer, conductor, pianist and music administrator. He is best known for the '' Carol Symphony'' and for humorous song-settings.Hurd, Michael'Hely-Hutchinson, (Christian) Victor (Noel Hope)'in ''Grove Music Online'', 2001 (subscription needed) Early life Hely-Hutchinson was born in Cape Town, Cape Colony (now Cape Town, South Africa). His parents were Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, Governor of Cape Colony from 1901 to 1910 during and after the Boer War, and May Hely-Hutchinson. He initially lived in Kent, then moved back to South Africa in 1907. He was taught the piano by Dr Thomas Barrow Dowling (1861–1926), the organist of Cape Town cathedral. Victor was a child prodigy, composing many pieces before the age of ten – his parents had a collection of sketches for violin and piano published as ''A Child's Thoughts'' in 1909. In England in 1910, he was taught piano by Donald ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Ceremony Of Carols
''A Ceremony of Carols,'' Op. 28, is an extended choral composition for Christmas by Benjamin Britten scored for three-part treble chorus, solo voices, and harp. The text, structured in eleven movements, is taken from ''The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems'', edited by Gerald Bullett. It is principally in Middle English, with some Latin and Early Modern English. It was composed in 1942 on Britten's sea voyage from the United States to England. Britten composed the music at the same time as the '' Hymn to St. Cecilia'' and in similar style. Originally conceived as a series of unrelated songs, it was later unified into one piece with the framing processional and recessional chant in unison based on the Gregorian antiphon "Hodie Christus natus est". A harp solo based on the chant, along with a few other motifs from "Wolcum Yole", also serves to unify the composition. In addition, the movements "This Little Babe" and "Deo Gracias" have the choir reflecting harp-like effects by emplo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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