"Masters in This Hall" (alternative title: "Nowell, Sing We Clear") 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 ...

with words written around 1860 by the English poet and artist

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

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 Marin Marais (; 31 May 1656, in Paris – 15 August 1728, in Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe ...

composed the tune as a dance for his opera ''

Alcyone In Greek mythology, Alcyone (or dubiously Halcyone) (; ) and Ceyx (; ) were a wife and husband who incurred the wrath of the god Zeus for their romantic hubris. Etymology Alkyóne comes from alkyón (), which refers to a sea-bird with a mour ...

'' of 1706, with the title ''Marche pour les Matelots''. The tune was subsequently included in

Raoul Auger Feuillet Raoul Auger (or Anger) Feuillet (c.1660–1710) was a French dance notator, publisher and choreographer most well-known today for his ''Chorégraphie, ou l'art de décrire la danse'' (Paris, 1700) which described Beauchamp–Feuillet notatio ...

'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 John Essex (born c.1680 - died 1744, London) was an English dancer, choreographer and author who promoted the recording of dance steps through notation as well as performing in London theatre. In 1728 he published his major work ''The Dancing-Mas ...

(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 around 1860 while William Morris, then 26, was working as an apprentice in the office of the architect, Edmund Street, presumably under the persuasion of his fellow students who at that time had a taste for

part-song A part song, part-song or partsong is a form of choral music that consists of a song to a secular or non-liturgical sacred text, written or arranged for several vocal parts. Part songs are commonly sung by an SATB choir, but sometimes for an all- ...

. The architect and musician Edmund Sedding had at one point also been in the office of G. E. Street and he had discovered the tune at a meeting with the organist at

Chartres Cathedral Chartres Cathedral (, lit. Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres) is a Catholic cathedral in Chartres, France, about southwest of Paris, and is the seat of the List of bishops of Chartres, Bishop of Chartres. Dedicated in honour of the Virgin Mary ( ...

.Studwell It was included in Sedding's collection of ''Nine Antient and Goodly Carols for the Merry Tide of Christmas'' (1860). In 1884 the poet

Algernon Charles Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He wrote many plays – all tragedies – and collections of poetry such as '' Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the Eleve ...

described this carol as "one of the co-equal three finest ... in the language." According to Swinburne, the carol was also included, at his suggestion, in the publisher Arthur Bullen's ''A Christmas Garland: Carols and Poems from the Fifteenth Century to the Present'' (1885).

Derivative works

Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

incorporated the carol into his work ''Three Carols'' (1916–17) along with "Christmas Song: On this Day" and "

I Saw Three Ships "I Saw Three Ships (Come Sailing In)" 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 ...

". Holst wrote the ''Three Carols'' for amateurs singing in his

Thaxted Thaxted is a town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of north-west Essex, England. The town is in the valley of the River Chelmer, not far from its source in the nearby village of Debden, and is 97 metres (318 feet) above sea level (w ...

festivals. The carols are all for unison choir with orchestral or organ accompaniment.

Description

"Masters in This Hall" is said to have a sixteenth-century feel, harking back to a simpler society, in line with Morris's own

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

. It also has elements of Morris's

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

beliefs, with the poor bringing news of Christ's birth to the "Masters in this Hall" and a warning to the proud. The image of raising up the poor and casting down the proud is also contained in the song of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, often referred to as the ''

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. This ...

'', sung upon the occasion of her visit to Saint Elizabeth, a relative of hers and the mother of

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

, that is referenced in . In Morris's original version there are twelve verses but today only four or five are sung. The carol describes a poor man, emphasised by his rural dialect, drawing his master's attention to the birth of Christ by describing how he had met shepherds travelling to Bethlehem in solemn mood where, joining them, he had seen the Christ child in his mother's arms. The chorus repeats how the birth of Christ has raised up the poor and cast down the proud.

Extract

References

Sources

* *

Bibliography

*''A Christmas Garland: Carols and Poems From The Fifteenth Century To The Present Time'' published by A. H. Bullen With Seven Illustrations newly designed By Henry G. Wells, London. Printed by John C. Nimmo 14, King William Street, Strand, W.C. 188
At the Internet Archive
*''Ancient English Christmas Carols, 1400–1700'', Edith Rickert, London, Chatto & Windus, 1910 Reprinted 1914, 192

External links

Lincoln Southeast Court Choir performs "Masters in This Hall", 2006
YouTube, Accessed December 2009 {{Authority control 1860 songs 19th-century hymns Christmas carols Poetry by William Morris