The First Nowell
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"The First Nowell" (or Nowel), modernised as "The First Noel" (or Noël), is a traditional English
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 Cornish origins most likely from the
early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...
, although possibly earlier.. It is listed as number 682 in the
Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...
.


Origin and history

"The First Nowell" is of Cornish origin. Its current form was first published in ''Carols Ancient and Modern'' (1823) and ''Gilbert and Sandys Carols'' (1833), both of which were edited by William Sandys and arranged and edited by
Davies Gilbert Davies Gilbert (born Davies Giddy, 6 March 1767 – 24 December 1839) was a British engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as its President from 1827 to 1830. He changed his name to ...
(who also wrote extra lyrics) for ''Hymns and Carols of God''. ''Nowell'' is an
Early Modern English Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModEFor example, or EMnE) or Early New English (ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transit ...
synonym of "
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
" from French ''Noël'', "the Christmas season", ultimately from Latin ''natalis ies' " ayof birth". The word was regularly used in the burden of carols in the Middle Ages towards the early modern period; Sir Christèmas ( Ritson Manuscript), "Nowell sing we now all and some" ( Trinity Carol Roll) and "Nowel – out of youre slepe arise and wake" (
Selden Carol Book The Selden Carol Book is a medieval carol manuscript held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford (MS. Arch. Selden. B. 26). Along with the Trinity Carol Roll, with which it shares five contemporaneous carols and texts (for example the Agincourt Car ...
) being 15th century examples. As a result, the word also came to be used to mean a Christmas song or carol. The melody is unusual among English folk melodies in that it consists of one musical phrase repeated twice, followed by a refrain which is a variation on that phrase. All three phrases end on the third of the scale. Writing in the '' Journal of the Folk-Song Society'' in 1915, Anne Gilchrist notes it was not recorded prior to Sandys' publication. She speculated based on a set of church gallery parts discovered in
Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...
that the tune may have had its origin as a treble part to another carol "Hark, hark what news the angels bring"; her suggestion was that the treble part was passed down orally and was later remembered as the melody rather than a harmony. A conjectural reconstruction of this earlier version can be found in ''
The New Oxford Book of Carols ''The New Oxford Book of Carols'' is a collection of vocal scores of Christmas carols. It was first published in 1992 by Oxford University Press (OUP) and was edited by Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott. It is a widely used source of carols in am ...
''. Today, "The First Nowell" is usually performed in a four-part hymn arrangement by the English composer
John Stainer Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of ''The Crucifixion (Stainer), The Crucifixion'', still heard at Passiontide in some Angli ...
, first published in his ''Carols, New and Old'' in 1871. Variations of its theme are included in
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 ...
's ''
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 uninte ...
''. American folklorist
James Madison Carpenter James Madison Carpenter, born in 1888 in Blacklands, Mississippi, near Booneville, in Prentiss County, was a Methodist minister and scholar of American and British folklore. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the ...
made audio recordings of several traditional versions of the song in
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
in the early 1930s, which can be heard online via the
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodi ...
.


Textual comparison

In common with many traditional songs and carols, the lyrics vary across books. The versions compared below are taken from '' The New English Hymnal'' (1986) (which is the version used in Henry Ramsden Bramley and
John Stainer Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of ''The Crucifixion (Stainer), The Crucifixion'', still heard at Passiontide in some Angli ...
's ''Carols, New and Old''), Henry Ramsden Bramley and
John Stainer Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of ''The Crucifixion (Stainer), The Crucifixion'', still heard at Passiontide in some Angli ...

"The First Nowell"
in ''Carols New and Old'' (London: Novello, Ewer & Co., c. 1878).
'' The New English Hymnal'', (Canterbury Press, 1986), No. 36. Ralph Dunstan's gallery version in the ''Cornish Songbook'' (1929)Ralph Dunstan, ''The Cornish Song Book'' (London: Reid Bros., 1929), p. 126. and Reverend Charles Lewis Hutchins's version in ''Carols Old and Carols New'' (1916).Rev. Charles Lewis Hutchins, ''Carols Old and Carols New'' (Boston: Parish Choir, 1916), No. 643. The
annunciation to the shepherds The annunciation to the shepherds is an episode in the Nativity of Jesus described in the Bible in Luke 2, in which angels tell a group of shepherds about the birth of Jesus. It is a common subject of Christian art and of Christmas carols. Bibl ...
and the adoration of the shepherds are episodes in the
nativity of Jesus The Nativity or birth of Jesus Christ is found in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew and Gospel of Luke, Luke. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, in Herodian kingdom, Roman-controlled Judea, th ...
described in the second chapter of the
Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...
(
Luke 2 Luke 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament, traditionally attributed to Luke the Evangelist, a companion of Paul the Apostle on his missionary journeys. It contains an account of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem, "its announ ...
). The
Star of Bethlehem The Star of Bethlehem, or Christmas Star, appears in the nativity of Jesus, nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew Matthew 2, chapter 2 where "wise men from the East" (biblical Magi, Magi) are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem. There, ...
appears in the story of the
Magi Magi (), or magus (), is the term for priests in Zoroastrianism and earlier Iranian religions. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Per ...
(the Wise Men) in the
Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...
; it does not appear in the story of the shepherds.


Charts


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See also

*
List of Christmas carols This list of Christmas carols is organized by language of origin. Originally, a "Christmas carol" referred to a piece of vocal music in carol form whose lyrics centre on the theme of Christmas or the Christmas season. The difference between a ...


References


External links

* * * Free arrangements fo
piano
an
voice
from ''Cantorion.org'' {{DEFAULTSORT:First Noel, The British Christmas songs Christmas carols Cornish folk songs Songs about Jesus Hymns in The New English Hymnal