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Carol (music)

A carol is a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with Christian church worship, and sometimes accompanied by a dance. A caroller (or caroler) is someone who sings carols, and is said to be carolling (or caroling).

For "chorale" (a group of singers) and "choral music", see Choir.

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

History[edit]

The word carol is derived from the Old French word carole, a circle dance accompanied by singers (in turn derived from the Latin choraula). Carols were very popular as dance songs from the 1150s to the 1350s, after which their use expanded as processional songs sung during festivals, while others were written to accompany religious mystery plays (such as the "Coventry Carol", written before 1534).[1]


Sacred music was traditionally sung in Latin by clergy or appointed cantors of the Catholic church. Following the Protestant Reformation, reformers aimed to bring 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. Martin Luther, the father of Lutheran Christianity, encouraged congregational singing during the Mass, in addition to spreading the practice of caroling outside the liturgy.[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 nineteenth century and began to be written and adapted by eminent composers.[3]

The Carol Book ed. David Iliff and , published RSCM (2005)

John Barnard

ed. David Willcocks, Reginald Jacques and John Rutter (1961–1988)

Carols for Choirs

Christmas Carols New and Old ed. H. R. Bramley and (1871)

John Stainer

ed. George Ratcliffe Woodward (1901–19)

The Cowley Carol Book

ed. Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott (1992)

The New Oxford Book of Carols

ed. Percy Dearmer, Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams (1928)

The Oxford Book of Carols

The Penguin Book of Carols ed. (1999)

Ian Bradley

The University Carol Book ed. (1961)

Erik Routley

Important anthologies of carols include:

Cancionero de Upsala

Carols by Candlelight

List of Christmas carols

Koledari

Kolyadka

Medieval dance

Piae Cantiones

Trick-or-treating

Villancico

Wassailing

Pentreath, Rosie (17 December 2021). . Classic FM. Archived from the original on 17 December 2021.

"9 wonderful carols from around the world that aren't 'Good King Wenceslas'"

, ed. (1911). "Carol" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Chisholm, Hugh

The dictionary definition of carol at Wiktionary