The English carol / by Erik Routley.
| Author/creator | Routley, Erik |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | New York : Oxford University Press, 1959 [©1958] |
| Description | 272 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Part one. The singing ages. The Medieval manuscript carols. What is a carol? ; The form of the Medieval manuscript carol ; A general view of Greene -- The ballad carol. Carol and folk-song ; The noel ; The ballad ; The words of the ballad-carols ; Carols of the nativity ; Legendary carols ; The Cherry Tree ; The Holy Well ; The Carnal and the Crane ; Dives and Lazarus ; The Angel Gabriel ; Lullaby carols ; Down in Yon Forest ; Carols of redemption and other doctrines ; Wassail ; Holly and ivy ; Number carols ; My Dancing Day -- The music of the ballad carols. Sources of folk-music ; Gilbert and Sandys ; The later folk-song movement ; Folk-song and geography ; Community of tunes ; God rest you merry ; A virgin most pure ; The first nowell ; Other ballad tunes ; Furry ; Greensleeves -- Part two. The great controversy. The Medieval genius for play. The procession ; Drama ; The Lord of misrule ; The boy bishop ; The church's year -- The wrath of the Puritans. The Puritan view ; Status pupillaris ; Puritan enactments ; Carols of the Puritan period ; 1550-1560 ; Motet carols ; Late ballads ; The poets - William Dunbar ; Southwell and contemporaries ; Herrick and contemporaries -- Christmas hymns. Hymns and carols ; Hymns and liturgy ; Hymns as the folk-song of evangelism ; Hymns as an eighteenth-century literary form ; Adeste Fideles ; "Hark, the herald" ; "Christians awake" ; "While shepherds watched" ; Christmas hymns of the nineteenth century -- Part three. The return of the carol. The nineteenth century. Music and the industrial revolution ; The Oxford movement ; Bramley & Stainer ; Carols for Use in Church (Chope) ; Other carols and carol books -- Carols from other countries. Piae Cantiones (1582) ; Germany and Austria ; Poland ; Czechoslovakia ; Holland ; France and the Basque country ; Other European countries ; The British Isles ; America -- Carols today. Modern carols ; Carol singing and carol services ; Where are the carols now? -- Appendix I. The Festival of nine lessons and carols -- Appendix II. A service of lessons and music for the season of lent. |
| Abstract | This book tells the story of the origin and development of the Christian carol from the Middle Ages, through the period of the Puritan suppression, to the present time. It distinguishes the carol from the hymn, the one being essentially a medieval from of Christian song, the other post-Reformation. It shows how the carol presupposes a different conception of worship, of the church and of the relation between church and society, from that presupposed in the hymn. Many carols from foreign sources, where they have come into English use, are included and there is much information relating to the seasonal hymns, chiefly for Christmas, which are closely associated with the carol tradition. Such compositions as 'Adeste fideles,' 'Christians awake,' and 'Hark, the herald angels sing' (all dating about 1740-1750) are not carols at all thought they are commonly thought to be so. A section on Christmas hymns finds its place in this setting. The author then passes on to the Victorian carol, with its impoverished quality of words and music, and in the course of this he traces the source of the error which has caused modern Christians to regard Christmas as the only season suitable for carol singing. Next comes a reference to the folk song revival of about 1900, followed by a discussion of modern customs in carol singing and the place of the carol in present-day society. Throughout, in support of his text, the author draws on numerous illustrative quotations of both words and music. An appendix contains documents which relate to the history of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, including a statement by the Dean of York, who compiled the present form of the King's College Festival. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-262) and index. |
| LCCN | 59003696 |