New book Deck the Hall by composer Andrew Gant tells the origin stories of our beloved Christmas carols. Described as a ‘festive treat’, the book uncovers the range of traditions and places the carols were founded in. Some began life as a folk song, some are French. And although Christmas carols are sung in church, this has not all the time been the case.
Christian Today spoke to Gant to listen to in regards to the interesting back stories to a lot of our favourite carols and the way they made their journey into the church.
Why did you ought to write this book?
I’ve worked with choirs all of my adult life and I’ve all the time been very all in favour of how the music reflects and matches in with other things like social and cultural history, and the way it reflects back to us. It was a logical step to begin taking a look at the background and the hinterland to those wonderful songs that everyone knows so well. It seems they’ve elements from nearly every possible corner of our cultural history which you can possibly consider, from folk songs to church traditions to other countries. It really is an excellent hodgepodge and intensely interesting.
In your research for the book what discoveries surprised you essentially the most?
Perhaps one in all them is that what we predict of as our English carol tradition seems to not be English in any respect, and in some cases not entirely English. Indeed quite just a few of our favourite songs turned out to be American interestingly, several well-known carols had the words written in America, including ‘Oh Little Town of Bethlehem’ and ‘It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.’ In each of those cases in addition they had music written to them in America which continues to be sung by American choirs and singers but with a unique tune to what’s sung within the UK. Looking at why that is the case may be very interesting. ‘Away in a Manger’ also has two tunes to it, one utilized in America and one within the UK, but on this case the words and each the tunes were actually written within the US. It is kind of interesting how oral traditions survive elsewhere.
Carols are typically joyous songs to be sung at Christmas time. However within the book you explain that some are literally rooted in pain and anguish.
Very much so indeed, in fact as is the entire Christian story. The word carol for a start is an ancient word and it refers to a celebratory piece of music. It may very well be a song with words or it may very well be a dance, a kind of party song really, definitely no specific association with Christmas and definitely not with church. Even within the nineteenth century there was a book called ‘Easter Carols and Christmas Hymns’, and there the word carol was used not for Christmas. Many folk carols, aside from having one for secular and sometimes pagan traditions like ‘The Holy and the Ivy’ for instance, a few of them interestingly tell not only the Christmas little bit of the story but the entire story. ‘Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day’ for instance has many verses, and should you read all of them it takes you from the creation of the world throughout to the entire of Christ’s life, including his death and resurrection. It’s fascinating, really quite mysterious and definitely not nearly Christmas, that is obviously.
What do you personally enjoy about carols?
There is a lot variety in there, the richness of the reference and the way in which they’ll draw on folk traditions and traditions from other countries. I feel this may be very inspiring after which there’s the work of real composers and poets. I actually have particular fondness for the poem by Edmund Hamilton Sears, a Unitarian minister in nineteenth Century Massachusetts, ‘It Came Upon the Midnight Clear’, which is a stupendous evocation of peace.
In the book you write that ‘some carols were born to Christmas, a few of them have achieved Christmas, and a few have had Christmas thrust upon them.’ How did some carols find yourself within the church in the event that they were never rooted within the Christmas story to start with?
Our carol tradition draws on so many various things and I feel it can be crucial to do not forget that for much of the history of the church, what was said and sung in a service was a matter of law not only of custom. For our ancestors within the nineteenth century, the thought of singing devotional poetry, even something like ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ which is a poem by Charles Wesley, would have been unthinkable in church. What you sang in church was what was within the Bible and the prayer book, and that was it. Hymn singing took off big time through non-conformists just like the Wesleys, the Methodists and others after which was embraced by the Anglican church within the nineteenth century, besides, the thought of singing something like ‘The Holy and the Ivy’ or ‘I Saw Three Ships’ in a church service would have been deeply shocking. They would have considered that extremely unsuitable. And frankly they’re right, it’s got nothing to do with the liturgy, in order that’s quite a contemporary idea. How we have been in a position to embrace so many various things may be very much a part of the story and a very good thing too, I feel.
Will you be attending any carol services together with your family?
Absolutely, we have already got! Partly because my family and I are still lucky enough to participate. We’ve recently been carol singing across the streets of Oxford where we live and I’m so thrilled with that tradition, which has been a lot an element of the way in which we do carols. It does seem anecdotally to be picking up a bit and that is lovely. I’m really pleased to be doing that, I’m looking forward to more carol singing and hoping it doesn’t rain!
