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Christmas Carols: Church
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The website www.oremus.org tracks the first publication of almost every well-known hymn in the UK. This makes it easy to confirm that almost all the well known carols were not sung in church until the second half of the 19th century. Hymns Ancient and Modern 1861 - 1874 gave us: "Come all ye Faithful", "Hark The Herald Angels Sing"; "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night"; "The First Nowell", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", "Silent Night", "Away in a Manger", "God Rest you Merry Gentlemen" and "Once in Royal David's City". In several cases the above hymns are noted as "traditional". This means that they were sung outside the church, and in some cases previously published as folk carols, not hymns. After the reformation and the English civil war churches reverted to singing psalms rather than hymns. The father of English hymnody was Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748). He didn't compose any carols, but his great successor Charles Wesley (1707 -1788) composed one.
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There were ancient Christmas carols back in the 4th century - and songs of praise long before that. During the 12th Century, St Francis of Assisi included Christmas carols in church services. And monks composed theme music during the Middle Ages. All of these carols were based on the bible and only for religious use.
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Nineteenth century antiquarians rediscovered early carols in museums. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, [1] about 500 have been found. Some are wassailing songs, some are religious songs in English, some are in Latin, and some are "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 "The Boar's Head". Allegedly, it has been sung at Christ Church Cambridge since 1607. The tradition of singing carols outside of church influence, early in the nineteenth century is best illustrated by Thomas Hardy's novel "Under the Greenwood Tree" (1872).
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For a special Scottish carol service you can do no better than the Caledonian Carols taking place at St. Columba's church on Pont Street. The service will take place on Wednesday 5th December at 7pm. For more information, follow the link below.
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The Christmas carol is widely believed to have been introduced into the church by St. Francis of Assisi in 1223. For this reason, traditional carols are those based on religious sentiment, not those featuring snowmen, Santa, or other modern notions of Christmas. Those are considered Christmas songs.
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The Dulwich Choral Society will perform a number of Christmas carols on Monday 17th December 2007 at 6.30pm St Stephen's Church on College Road, Dulwich. Nearest rail: Sydenham. For more information, call 020 7274 6388.
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