The seasonal songs popular in western music, especially in conjunction with the Christmas season, known as carols, have a rich and complex history full of tradition and controversy in the realms of both sacred and secular music.
The concept of singing carols to celebrate holidays developed during the 13th century in France, although what was to be known as carol music had been around from centuries earlier. It is believed that when troubadour Saint Francis of Assisi had made the first Greccio crib, he began to sing songs honoring the Nativity and the joy of celebration in religion, for this was a strict Puritanical era wherein communal singing, drama, and any type of festivity was looked down upon in the first place, and absolutely abhorred in religion.
The concept of singing these carols gained popularity throughout Europe towards the end of Puritan reign and the growth of the Mystery Play throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. The Mystery Plays were dramatic pieces celebrating the birth of Christ. The basic plainsong and antiphon of the time were lacking the drama required by these performances, and soon religious songs for these performances were being written in the vernacular for these plays. The still popular English "Coventry Carol" dates back to this period. By the end of the 15th century, carols had begun to stand on their own as anonymous pieces of music, and were dung on almost all religious feast days, including Christmas, Easter, and throughout the Spring in celebration of the peoples emancipation from Puritanism.
As mentioned earlier, the music that these early carols were based on dates back to the 9th and 10th centuries Medieval period, where it was used as dance music. The word carol itself is derived form the Latin "choraula," which was a monophonic ring dance accompanied by singing during the Medieval era. The form of the early carols followed the binary structure of these dances. It consisted of the stanza, which was basically a verse, and was used as a resting point for the dancers, and the burden, which was a theme repeated at the beginning and ending of each piece as well as between each stanza. It expressed a sort of summary of the music, and was the time for the dancers to really swing.
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...the 19th century, the better carol music had been weeded out form the worse, and it began to be collected in a more systematic fashion. Countries throughout Europe began to amass their old carol folk songs into collections of national music. An innumerable number of old carol tunes that were hidden in the memory of old country folk were rediscovered and published for the first time.
Today Christmas remains the most popular season to celebrate with carols. America has birthed her own collection of Christmas carols, although one will find these more modern 20th century carols to have much less of a connection with religion, if any at all, than the older European carols. A wide variety of carols form various geographic areas and eras continue to be sung by choirs and vocal ensembles, in churches, and for various forms of entertainment. There have even been instrumental arrangements and contemporary renditions of many of the older carols. Although in many ways the carol has been modernized, especially in the American culture, the beautiful simplicity and antiquity of the music, as well as the remarkable history and tradition they imply, cannot be ignored.
Have you ever asked yourself how Christmas was celebrated in the late 20th century? The song, “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree,” was written by Brenda Lee in 1958. In this song, the author uses three literary devices to express how Christmas was celebrated in the late 50’s. For instance, the literary devises that were used by Brenda lee were repetition, alliteration, and sight. These literary devices were used to explain how Christmas was celebrated in the late 1950’s.
christmas hymn was the best book of the 1843 Christmas season. by Christmas it sold six thousand duplicates and it kept on being well known into the new year.
In the scene after John Horner is arrested, you can hear Christmas carols playing in the street. It perturbed me a bit that they played the same Christmas carol throughout the show. They never played any different ones. I looked up the carol they had chosen, which happened to be God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. That particular carol is a traditional English Christmas carol. I believe it is supposed to be a reference by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Dickens mentioned the carol in his story, which takes place about forty years earlier, at the latest. The sounds of the horse drawn-carriages were also very loud. Carriages were a very
“For over one thousand years the official music of the Roman Catholic church had been Gregorian Chant, which consists of melody set to sacred Latin texts and sung without accompaniment” (Kamien 67). The credit for developing Gregorian chant music, also known as plain...
The drama of A Christmas Carol is a very popular selection as it brings out the Christmas spirit of even the stone-hearted. It starts with a grumpy old man named Ebenezer Scrooge. He dislikes Christmas and wants nothing to do with it. In order for him to gain his Christmas spirit back he is taken to his past, present, and future by three different ghosts. Doing this helps him to realize what Christmas is about. The turning point of the play is when Scrooge sees his own grave. This made him fully understand what he has done and what needs to be fixed. Ebenezer makes many
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens is a tale of the morality changes of a man. The uncharitable, cold heart of the main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, melts with ardent love as he receives visitations from three Christmas spirits who enlighten his soul with wise lessons and bring a warm change to his heart. In the beginning of the novel, Scrooge expresses his vices of greed and cold heartedness by his words and actions, but as the story unfolds, his life is renewed by these Spirits who shed light and truth upon him, resulting in making him become a better man, portraying the virtue of charity.
The title to the novella 'A Christmas Carol' this suggests that the story will be a joyful Christian message. 'Christmas' is a time for celebration and togetherness. It is the time for forgiveness, kindness and charity. 'Carol' is a chant which a group of people sing Christmas and Christian songs, so this is meant to be a time where people have fun and are united with family and friends.
Dickens' A Christmas Carol and the Industrial Revolution Besides being the secular story of Christmas time in an urban setting, A Christmas Carol, tells the sacred story of Christmas as well. With A Christmas Carol, Dickens initiated an ongoing creative process in the Anglo-American imagination. As a result of the Industrial Revolution and the growth and development of cities people's lives changed drastically as they moved from the life and traditions of the country into those of the city. As industrialization continued, for many people in the city living and working conditions worsened. As reports of horrible working conditions increased so did the literature of social concern for reform..
Nothaft, C. The Origins of the Christmas Date: Some Recent Trends in Historical Research. Church
A Christmas Carol is jubilant spiritual hymns to celebrate the birth of Christ which is sang by a group of people friends, family and anybody who wants to.
Before the rebirth of knowledge, the only music in England was spiritual music. Since this time period was known as the Golden Age of the A Cappella Music Style, majority of the spiritual songs were sung in the a cappella music style. A cappella is when the choir sings without an instrumental accompaniment. There were two main styles other than a cappella, motets and masses. Motets and masses are quite similar, having only a few differences. A motet is a polyphonic piece of music having four to six voices all singing one religious text (Bower). Masses happen to be longer than a motet and were very important in the services in the Catholic Church. The Catholic masses had a very specific order ...
A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) and published in 1843. The novel was the first of five in a series of Christmas books that Dickens was commissioned to write. It is thought that several of the darkest episodes in his novels are based on his own personal experiences, for instance when his father spent some months in a debtor’s prison in London.
Both taking place in the nineteenth century Christmas and opera were both reinvented and redefined. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, Christmas was not an event in which people would want to take part in. Throughout the first 26 years of the nineteenth-century, people worked on Christmas and stores were open. There were not magazines or newspapers that referred to December twenty-fifth. From the nineteenth century to the twenty-first major changes occurred that made Christmas an event that people waited for its arrival. It was not until 1826 that people recognized Christmas wasn 't being practiced nor was it being discerned by society. Therefore, it would be implemented that stores would be closed and it became a holiday for workers. This first move to make Christmas an event was the turning point which was then followed by the commercialism of selling material goods. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the creation of Scrooge reminded the upper class to give to the lower class. The Author, Charles Dickens gave caution to society and it was the recognized that Christmas was supposed to be about giving to charity and sharing the wealth among classes. In contrast, opera was much the same as its reinvention was not for it to just to be entertaining but to become an art. The transformation from opera being a social event to became a place were classes of different social standings integrated, where it finally proceeded to grew into an art form, where it could be appreciated for its cultural aspects and pure talent. Opera was not appreciated in the early nineteenth century and by the end, it was soon transformed, becoming appreciated as an art form just as how Christmas not recognized nor celebrated but soon became a large part of modern-day
Music has been relevant in Christianity since its beginnings. Some of the first music was written in Latin and they were called Hymns. “Hymn is a song of praise” (Van Camp) and were sung only by catholic churches. When Martin Luther led the Protestant Reformation and helped create Protestant Christianity, he began translating hymns into German. All around Europe people were translating hymns into different languages. These translations were brought over by European settlers coming to America and were used frequently in both Catholic and Protestant churches.
Although it was never celebrated in biblical times, Christmas is celebrated in local churches here in Visalia, California in praise of the fact that God loved us so much; he sent his one and only son to earth. He was wholey god and wholey man. Whereas we have succumbed to the temptations of this earth, Jesus was able to overcome all temptations and live a sinless life. He was then crucified as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. One cannot understand why we celebrate the birth of Christ without seeing the other end of his life. He was crucified for our sins and resurrected.