Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern

By Annie Russell Marble

This article, "Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern," from the December 1901 issue of The Bookman magazine, talks about the history and origins of traditional and popular Christmas carols, ancient as well as modern. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Full Well Ventures
• Release date: Apr 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9788835800729

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Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern

© 2020 Full Well Ventures

Originally published in December 1901 issue of The Bookman magazine

THE Bookman

Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern

By Annie Russell Marble

IN THE nomenclature of literature and music, few terms are more flexible, both as regards substance and form, than the word carol. With its derivation still a mooted question, it has extended its range to include nearly all festival songs. From earliest times to the present, amid great diversity of models, there have been two generic types: First, the carol of exultation, closely linked with the primal use of the song as accompaniment to the dance, and second, the carol of adoration, more stately and restrictive, akin to the early Biblical hymns of praise. Moreover, the history of these two elemental carol forms is coeval, and often interlinked, rather than sequential. The Saturnalian feasts of the Romans, the Mother-Night, or Yule-Feast, of the Saxons, both occurring during the latter days of December, were celebrated with dance-songs of joy; the Hebrews commemorated their early victories by adoration of Jehovah, with singing and dancing, with tabrets, with joy and with instruments of musick.

Retrospect of carol singing,