Carol (music)

A carol is in Modern English a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with church worship, and often with a
dance-like or popular character.

Today the carol is represented almost exclusively by the Christmas carol, the Advent carol, and to a much lesser extent by the Easter
carol; however, despite their present association with religion, this has not always been the case.

Contents
1 History
2 Modern carols
3 Notes
4 Bibliography
5 See also

History
The word carol is derived from the Old French word carole, a circle
Coventry Carol
dance accompanied by singers (in turn derived from the Latin
choraula). Carols were very popular as dance songs from the 1150s to 0:00

the 1350s, after which their use expanded as processional songs sung The Coventry Carol, performed by
during festivals, while others were written to accompany religious the U.S. Army Band Chorus
mystery plays (such as the Coventry Carol, written before 1534).[1]
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Carols were traditionally sung in Latin by clergy of the Catholic
church. Following the Protestant Reformation, reformers believed that carols were for everyone to sing, and aimed at bringing music
"back to the people". To enable the common person to sing church music, great efforts were made to translate musical texts from
Latin into the native languages that people spoke. At the same time, the Protestant church fought diligently to reduce the stranglehold
that the clergy at the Catholic church had on sacred music, as far as banning their involvement within Protestant cultures.[2]
Composers such as William Byrd composed motet-like works for Christmas that they termed carols; and folk-carols continued to be
sung in rural areas. Nonetheless, some famous carols were written in this period, and they were more strongly revived from the
[3]
nineteenth century and began to be written and adapted by eminent composers.

Modern carols
In modern times, songs that may once have been regarded as carols are now classified as songs (especially Christmas songs), even
those that retain the traditional attributes of a carol celebrating a seasonal topic, alternating verses and chorus, and danceable music.

Some writers of carols, such asGeorge Ratcliffe Woodward who wrote "Ding Dong Merrily on High" and William Morris who wrote
"Masters in This Hall", reverted to a quasi-mediaeval style; this became a feature of the early twentieth-century revival in Christmas
Carols.

Some composers have written extended works based on carols. Examples include Benjamin Britten (A Ceremony of Carols), Ralph
Vaughan Williams (Fantasia on Christmas Carols) and Victor Hely-Hutchinson(Carol Symphony).
Notes
1. W. J. Phillips, Carols; Their Origin, Music, and Connection with Mystery-Plays(Routledge, 1921, Read Books, 2008),
p. 24.
2. http://www.museeprotestant.org/en/notice/protestant-music/
3. W. E. Studwell, The Christmas Carol Reader(Philadelphia, PA: Press, 1995), p. 3.

Bibliography
Important anthologies of carols include:

The Carol Book ed. David Iliff and John Barnard, published RSCM (2005)
Carols for Choirs ed. David Willcocks, Reginald Jacques and John Rutter (19611988)
Christmas Carols New and Olded. H. R. Bramley andJohn Stainer (1871)
The Cowley Carol Booked. George Ratcliffe Woodward (190119)
The New Oxford Book of Carolsed. Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott (1992)
The Oxford Book of Carolsed. Percy Dearmer, Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams (1928)
The Penguin Book of Carolsed. Ian Bradley (1999)
The University Carol Booked. Erik Routley (1961)

See also
Cancionero de Upsala
Carols by Candlelight
Christmas carol
Medieval dance
Piae Cantiones
Trick-or-treating
Villancico
Wassailing

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