"Ding Dong Merrily on High" is a

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a Carol (music), carol on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas and holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...

. The tune first appeared as a secular dance tune known under the title "

Branle A branle ( , ), also bransle, brangle, brawl(e), brall(e), braul(e), brando (in Italy), bran (in Spain), or brantle (in Scotland), is a type of France, French dance popular from the early 16th century to the present, danced by couples in either ...

de l'Official" in ''Orchésographie'', a dance book written by the French cleric, composer and writer

Thoinot Arbeau Thoinot Arbeau is the anagrammatic pen name of French cleric Jehan Tabourot (March 17, 1520 – July 23, 1595). Tabourot is most famous for his ''Orchésographie'', a study of late sixteenth-century French Renaissance social dance. He was born ...

, 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 A church bell is a bell in a church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship, but are also rung o ...

ringing. 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 Sir David Valentine Willcocks, (30 December 1919 – 17 September 2015) was a British choral conductor, organist, composer and music administrator. He was particularly well known for his association with the Choir of King's College, Cambridg ...

made an arrangement for the second book of ''

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 o ...

''.

Text and melody

Ding Dong! merrily on high In heav'n the bells are ringing Ding, dong! verily the sky Is riv'n with angel singing Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis E'en so here below, below Let steeple bells be swungen And i-o, i-o, i-o By priest and people be sungen Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis Pray ye dutifully prime Your matin chime, ye ringers May ye beautifully rime Your evetime song, ye singers Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis.

\header \layout global = soprano = \relative c'' alto = \relative c' tenor = \relative c' bass = \relative c verse = \lyricmode \score \score

Recordings

Roger Whittaker Roger Henry Brough Whittaker (22 March 1936 – 13 September 2023) was a Kenyan-born British singer-songwriter and musician. His music is an eclectic mixture of folk music and popular songs, the latter variously in a crooning or in a schlager ...

album ''Tidings of Comfort and Joy'' (1984) *

Maddy Prior Madeleine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk rock singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the p ...

album '' A Tapestry of Carols'' (1987) *

The Chieftains The Chieftains were a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous w ...

album '' The Bells of Dublin'' (1991) *

The Wiggles The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. As of 2022, the group members are Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Tsehay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce (entertainer), John Pearce, Caterina Mete ...

album '' Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas'' (1996) * Celtic Woman 7th album '' A Christmas Celebration'' (1998) *

Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a British singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff, Wales. As a child, Church was a popular classical singer with a less-successful attempt to mov ...

album '' Dream a Dream'' (2000) *

Cherish the Ladies Cherish the Ladies is an American female super group that plays Celtic music. The band began as a concert series in New York in January 1985. It was the brainchild of Mick Moloney who wanted to showcase the brightest female musicians in Amer ...

album '' On Christmas Night'' (2004) *

Blackmore's Night Blackmore's Night is a British-American neo-medieval folk rock band formed in 1997, consisting mainly of Ritchie Blackmore (acoustic guitar, hurdy gurdy, mandola, mandolin, nyckelharpa, and electric guitar) and Candice Night (lead vocals, lyr ...

album '' Winter Carols'' (2006) * Linda Brava album ''Angels'' (2010) * ''O Holy Night'' (2012) by Millennial Choirs and Orchestras *

Choir of King's College, Cambridge The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It was created by Henry VI of England, King Henry VI, who founded King's College, Cambridge, in 1441, to provide daily singing in his King's College Chapel, Cambridge, Chapel, ...

album '' 100 Years of Nine Lessons and Carols'' (2018)

References

External links

*
Free sheet music from the Choral Public Domain Library

(with scans of original) * Fre
sheet music
of "Ding Dong Merrily on High" for SATB, Cantorion.org * {{authority control Christmas carols 1924 songs French folk songs

Text and melody

Recordings

See also

References

External links