Christmas carol: Difference between revisions

{{About||the novel by Charles Dickens|A Christmas Carol{{!}}''A Christmas Carol''|other uses|A Christmas Carol (disambiguation)}}

{{redirect|Weihnachtslieder|the composition by Cornelius|Weihnachtslieder, Op. 8 (Cornelius){{!}}''Weihnachtslieder'', Op. 8 (Cornelius)}}

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|Of the Father's heart begotten]]'') by the Spanish poet [[Prudentius]] (d. 413) is still sung in some churches today.<ref>Miles, Clement, ''Christmas customs and traditions'', Courier Dover Publications, 1976, {{ISBN|0-486-23354-5}}, p. 32</ref>

In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas "Sequence"sequence (or"Prose"prose) was introduced in [[Northern Europe]]an monasteries, developing under [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] into a [[Sequence (liturgy)|sequence]] of rhymed [[stanza]]s. In the 12th century the Parisian monk [[Adam of Saint Victor]] began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol.

In the 13th century, in France, Germany, and particularly, Italy, under the influence of [[Francis of Assisi]], a strong tradition of popular Christmas songs in regional native languages developed.<ref>Miles, pp. 31–37</ref> Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of [[John Audelay|John Awdlay]], a [[Shropshire]] chaplain, who lists twenty five "caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of '[[wassailing|wassailers]]', who went from house to house.<ref>Miles, pp. 47–48</ref> The songs now known specifically as carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations like harvest tide as well as Christmas. It was only later that carols began to be sung in church, and to be specifically associated with Christmas.

Many carols which have gained popularity today were printed in ''[[Piae Cantiones]]'', a collection of late medieval Latin songs which was first published in 1582. Early, Latin forms of carols such as "[[Christ was born on Christmas Day]]", "[[Good Christian Men, Rejoice]]" and "[[Good King Wenceslas]]" can be found in this book.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Coghlan|first1=Alexandra|title=Carols from King's|date=2016|publisher=Random House|isbn=9781785940941|page=84|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Sf3DAAAQBAJ&q=modern%20carols%20from%20piae%20cantiones&pg=PA84|access-date=7 October 2016}}</ref> "{{lang|la|[[Adeste Fideles]]|italic=no}}" ("O Come all ye faithful") appears in its current form in the mid-18th century, although the words may have originated in the 13th century. The origin of the tune is disputed.

The publication of Christmas [[sheet music|music books]] in the 19th century helped to widen the popular appeal of carols. "[[God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen|God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen]]", "[[The First Noel]]", "[[I Saw Three Ships]]" and "[[Hark! The Herald Angels Sing]]" appear in English antiquarian [[William Sandys (antiquarian)|William Sandys]]' 1833 collection ''Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern''.<ref name="Sandys1833">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/christmascarolsa00sandrich/page/n6 |title=Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern |publisher=William Beckley |editor-last=Sandys |editor-first=William |location=[London] |date=1833}}</ref> Composers such as [[Arthur Sullivan]] helped to repopularise the carol, and it is this period that gave rise to such favourites as "[[Good King Wenceslas]]" and "[[It Came Upon the Midnight Clear]]", a New England carol written by Edmund H. Sears and Richard S. Willis. The publication in 1871 of ''Christmas Carols, New and Old'' by [[Henry Ramsden Bramley]] and Sir [[John Stainer]] was a significant contribution to a revival of carols in [[Victorian era|Victorian Britain]]. In 1916, Charles Lewis Hutchins published ''Carols Old and Carols New'', a scholarly collection which suffered from a short print run and is consequently rarely available today. The ''[[Oxford Book of Carols]]'', first published in 1928 by [[Oxford University Press]] (OUP), was a notably successful collection; edited by the British composers [[Martin Shaw (composer)|Martin Shaw]] and [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], along with clergyman and author [[Percy Dearmer]], it became a widely used source of carols in among choirs and church congregations in Britain and remains in print today.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Studwell|first1=William E.|last2=Jones|first2=Dorothy E.|title=Publishing Glad Tidings : Essays on Christmas Music|date=1998|publisher=Haworth Press|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=9780789003980|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae7mH0jR_k4C&q=oxford%20book%20of%20carols%20vaughan%20williams&pg=PA51|access-date=11 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Shaw|editor1-first=Martin|editor2-last=Dearmer|editor2-first=Percy|editor3-last=Vaughan Williams|editor3-first=Ralph|title=The Oxford Book of Carols|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordbookofcaro00dear|url-access=registration|date=1964|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780193533158}}</ref>

"[[Silent Night]]" comes from Austria. The carol was first performed in the Nikolaus-Kirche[[Nikolauskirche, (Church of St. Nicholas)Oberndorf|Nikolauskirche]] in [[Oberndorf bei Salzburg|Oberndorf]], Austria on 24 December 1818. Mohr had composed the words much earlier, in 1816, but on Christmas Eve brought them to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the church service.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/christmas/carols_2.shtml|title=Religion – Christianity: Carols – Christmas carols|website=[[BBC]]}}</ref> The first English translation was in 1871 where it was published in a [[Methodist]] hymnal.

Antiquarians in the 19th-century rediscovered early carols in museums. According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=httphttps://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9020427/carol|title=Carol – music|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref> about 500 have been found. Some are wassailing songs, some are religious songs in English, some are in Latin, and some are "[[Macaronic language|macaronic]]" — a mixture of English and Latin. Since most people did not understand Latin, the implication is that these songs were composed for church choristers, or perhaps for an educated audience at the Royal courts. The most famous survival of these early macaronic carols is "The Boar's Head". The tradition of singing carols outside of church services early in the 19th century is best illustrated by [[Thomas Hardy]]'s novel "''[[Under the Greenwood Tree]]"'' (1872). In England and other countries, such as Poland (kolęda), Romania ([[colindă]]) and Bulgaria ([[koledari]]), there is a tradition of Christmas caroling (earlier known as [[wassailing]]), in which groups of singers travel from house to house, singing carols at each, for which they are often rewarded with gifts, money, mince pies, or a glass of an appropriate beverage. Money collected in this way is now normally given to charity.

In the 1680s and 1690s, two French composers incorporated carols into their works. [[Louis-Claude Daquin]] wrote 12 noels for organ. [[Marc-Antoine Charpentier]] wrote a few instrumental versions of noels, plus one major choral work "''[[Messe de minuit pour Noël"]]''. [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] included Christmas carols in his [[List of church cantatas by liturgical occasion#Christmas (25 December)|cantatas for Christmastide]], including his ''[[Christmas Oratorio]]''. [[Peter Cornelius]] included carol melodies in the accompaniment of his song cycle ''[[Weihnachtslieder, Op. 8 (Cornelius)|Weihnachtslieder]]'', Op. 8. Other examples include:

In Austria, Belgium and Germany, [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]], the last feast of the Christmas season,iscelebratedmarkedbysome[[star withsingers]], children dressing as "Thethe [[Biblical Magi|Three Kings"]], carrying a star on a pole. Going from house to house from New Year's Day to 6 January, the children sing religious songs and arecollect calledmoney "[[starfor singers]]"charity. They are often rewarded with extra sweets or money, which is typically given to a local church or charity. "C.M.B" is written in chalk on houses they have visited. Although this is sometimes taken as a reference to the three kings — [[Biblical Magi#Names|Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar]] — it may originally have represented the words {{lang|la|Christus mansionem benedicat}} (Christ bless this house).<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.dbk.de/fileadmin/redaktion/veroeffentlichungen/deutsche-bischoefe/DB62-7.%20Auflage.pdf|title=Zum gemeinsamen Dienst berufen|journal=Die deutschen Bischöfe|volume=62|language=de|page=24|date=8 January 1999}}</ref>

* Dating from the 18th century, "[[Les Anges dansDans nosNos Campagnes]]" (known as "Angels We Have Heard On High" in English) is another famous French carol.

"Dans cette étable" and "Venez Divin Messie" are also popular Christmas carols. Perhaps the best known traditional French carol, "[[Il est né, le divin Enfant]]", comes from the region of [[Provence]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ashley |first=Judith |date=1924 |title=Mediæval Christmas Carols |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/726261 |journal=Music & Letters |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=65–71 |doi=10.1093/ml/V.1.65 |jstor=726261 |issn=0027-4224}}</ref>

Some carols familiar in English are translations of German Christmas songs (''Weihnachtslieder''). Pastoral ''Weihnachtslieder'' are sometimes called ''Hirtenlieder'' ("shepherd songs"). [[Martin Luther]] wrote the carol "[[Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her]]", which can be acted as a play of the [[ChristmasNativity storyof Jesus|Christmas historystory]]. He also wrote "[[Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ]]" and "[[Christum wir sollen loben schon]]". The carol "[[Vom Himmel hoch, o Engel, kommt]]" was written by [[Friedrich Spee]] in 1622 to an older melody, a lullaby singing "of Jesus and Mary", and for peace.

Two well-known later examples are "[[O Tannenbaum]]" (O Christmas tree), from a German folksong arranged by [[Ernst Anschütz]] and ""Stille Nacht" ("[[Silent Night]]") by the Austrians [[Franz Gruber (musician)|Franz Xaver Gruber]] and [[Joseph Mohr]]. The carol most familiar in German besides those two is probably the 19th-century "[[O du fröhliche]]".<br>

Other popular and widely sung Christmas carols are "Herbei, o ihr Gläub’gen", which is a German version of "Adeste fideles" (English: "[[O Come, All Ye Faithful]]"), [[Alle Jahre wieder]] ("Every year again"), [[Es ist ein Ros entsprungen]] (lit: "A rose has sprung up"), "[[Leise rieselt der Schnee]]" "(Silently the snow is falling)", "[[Tochter Zion, freue dich]]" (Daughter Zion, rejoice) and『[[Es ist für uns eine Zeit angekommen]]』("Unto us a time has come").

===Greece and Cyprus<!--'Kalanta' and 'Kalanda' redirect here-->===

Greek tradition calls for children to go out with [[Triangle (musical instrument)|triangles]] from house to house on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]] Eve, and sing the corresponding folk carols, called the {{ill|Kálanda|el|Κάλαντα}}'''Kalanta'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> or '''Kalanda'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> or [[Kalanta XristougenonChristougenon]], the word deriving from the Roman [[calends]]). There are separate carols for each of the three great feasts, referring respectively to the [[Nativity of Jesus|Nativity]], to [[St. Basil]] and the New Year, and to the [[Baptism of Jesus]] in the [[River Jordan]], along with wishes for the household. In addition to the carols for the [[Twelve Days of Christmas#Eastern Christianity|winter festive season]], there are also the springtime or [[Lent]]en carols, commonly called the "Carols of [[Lazarus of Bethany|Lazarus]]", sung on the [[Lazarus Saturday|Saturday before Palm Sunday]] as a harbinger of the [[Resurrection of Christ]] to be celebrated a week later.

The most popular Italian Christmas carol is "[[Tu scendi dalle stelle]]", written in 1732 by Saint [[Alphonsus Liguori]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=[[Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani]]|volume=2|year=1960|publisher=[[Treccani]]|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/alfonso-maria-de-liguori-santo_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/|title=Alfonso Maria de Liguori, santo|author=[[Giuseppe Cacciatore]]}}</ref>