A Little History of Carols
The article The History of Christmas Carols by Mark Cartwright includes many interesting tidbits. Britain, France, Germany, the United States–all have their unique carols and other musical traditions. For example, carols are mentioned in literature, as in this excerpt from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol:
The owner of one young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, stooped down at Scrooge's keyhole to regale him with a Christmas carol; but at the first sound of God Bless you, merry gentleman!
May nothing you dismay! Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog, and even more congenial frost. (Dickens, 14)
Carols have also been used to offer good will. During the First World War (1914-1918) when on Christmas Eve pockets of British and German soldiers all along the front of trenches called an unofficial truce. The men sang carols to each other across no man's land, as here reported in a letter home by Private Oswald Tilley:
First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up 'O Come All Ye Faithful' the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words 'Adeste Fideles'. And I thought, well, this was really a most extraordinary thing – two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war. ..This experience has been the most practical demonstration I have seen of Peace on earth and goodwill towards men…It doesn't seem right to be killing each other at Christmas time.
(Lawson-Jones, 92).
The article includes a link to a wonderful performance of David Willcocks’ arrangement of “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” performed at King’s College, Cambridge.
Notes
1. CMI Conference: We’re planning a host of breakout activities at the conference for a limited number of teens. This could make the perfect Christmas gift for your student!
2. Conference Proposals: If you would like to share your expertise or know someone who should, please read or share these guidelines and submit a proposal by January 31, 2024.
3. Office Hours: We will not host any Office Hours for the rest of December. Check out past topics here.
4. CORE Registration: Registration is now open for our next teacher training course on Charlotte Mason’s Methods which begins in mid-January.
5. Blue Open Door: Dr. Jack Beckman will teach “The Relational School,” a 6-week intensive on Charlotte Mason’s ideas in a school context. If you lead a school or co-op (or hope to one day), you’ll want to explore this course!
