''CAROLING IN THE

PHILIPPINES''

A Christmas carol (also called a noël) is a carol (song or hymn)

 whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season

 in general, and which is traditionally sung in the period

immediately surrounding the holiday. Christmas carols may

be regarded as a subset of the broader category of Christmas music.

History

A 1582 published version of the Latin carol Personent hodie

The first specifically Christmas hymns for Christians that we know

of appear in fourth 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 love begotten) by the Spanish poet Prudentius

 (d. 413) is still sung in some churches today.^[1]

In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Christmas "Sequence" or "Prose"

 was introduced in North European monasteries, developing under

Bernard of Clairvaux into a sequence of rhymed stanzas. In the

twelfth century the Parisian monk Adam of St. Victor began to derive

 music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol.

In the thirteenth century, in France, Germany, and particularly, Italy,

 under the influence of Francis of Assisi a strong tradition of popular

Christmas songs in the native language developed.^[2] Christmas

carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Awdlay, a

Shropshire chaplain, who lists twenty five "caroles of

Cristemas", probably sung by groups of 'wassailers', who went

 from house to house.^[3] The songs we know specifically as

carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations

like harvest tide as well as Christmas. It was only later that

carols begun to be sung in church, and to be

specifically associated with Christmas.

                                   

 

 

 

 

Carols gained in popularity after the Reformation in the

 countries where Protestant churches gained prominence

 (as well-known Reformers like Martin Luther authored

carols and encouraged their use in worship), this was the

consequence of the fact that the Lutheran reformation

warmly welcomed music.^[4]

"Adeste Fideles" ("O Come all ye faithful") appears in its

current form in the mid-18th century, although the words

may have originated in the thirteenth century. The origin

of the tune is disputed. The first appearance in print of

"God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen", "The First Noel",

 

"I Saw Three Ships" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"

was in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833)

by William Sandys. Composers like Arthur Sullivan

helped to repopularize the carol, and it is this period

that gave rise to such favorites as "Good King Wenceslas"

 and "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear", a New England

 carol written by Edmund H. Sears and Richard S. Willis.

Today carols are regularly sung at

Christian religious services.

 Some compositions have words which are clearly not of a

 religious theme, but are often still referred to as "carols"

. For example, the sixteenth century song "A Bone, God Wot!"

appears to be a wassailing song (which is sung during drinking

or while requesting ale), but is described in the British Library's

Cottonian Collection as a Christmas carol.^[

 

 

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