Traditional carols are a bit like the English language. Errors creep in, but later these become accepted as standard. It’s as though those who don’t really understand create the changes.
In the case of carols, the following are common issues:-
1. Deck the Hall with Boughs of Holly. The melody of the original Welsh Fa La Las is quite florid, and is ironed out to a repeated single note in the later American version, but this has become much more common ink modern publications. The hall/halls pluralisation is such a common error that more people (including Petroc Trelawney) use this than the correct (singular) version, though it doesn’t really disturb the meaning of the carol.
2. O Little Town of Bethlehem causes more division. The punctuation is important as is certain lines are linked. Yet some published carol sheets are incorrect, making nonsense of the meaning. However, the common error of ignoring the equal note lengths of link between lines 6 & 7 of the melody is less often heard nowadays.
3. O Come, all ye Faithful. I remember our school music teacher pressing the point of not adding a passing note to produce “Born the King of ay-en-gels”, but it’s a losing battle, and it occurs in Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival”. In verse 2, the words are not easy to fit, but once learnt, it becomes second nature. Yet when Edmund Walters arranged these carols for the RLPO & Chorus, he incorporated both of these errors deliberately. Surely he should have known better.
4. “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” sometimes suffers from mispunctuation of the opening line. However, the ye/you variation is hardly significant.
In the case of carols, the following are common issues:-
1. Deck the Hall with Boughs of Holly. The melody of the original Welsh Fa La Las is quite florid, and is ironed out to a repeated single note in the later American version, but this has become much more common ink modern publications. The hall/halls pluralisation is such a common error that more people (including Petroc Trelawney) use this than the correct (singular) version, though it doesn’t really disturb the meaning of the carol.
2. O Little Town of Bethlehem causes more division. The punctuation is important as is certain lines are linked. Yet some published carol sheets are incorrect, making nonsense of the meaning. However, the common error of ignoring the equal note lengths of link between lines 6 & 7 of the melody is less often heard nowadays.
3. O Come, all ye Faithful. I remember our school music teacher pressing the point of not adding a passing note to produce “Born the King of ay-en-gels”, but it’s a losing battle, and it occurs in Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival”. In verse 2, the words are not easy to fit, but once learnt, it becomes second nature. Yet when Edmund Walters arranged these carols for the RLPO & Chorus, he incorporated both of these errors deliberately. Surely he should have known better.
4. “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” sometimes suffers from mispunctuation of the opening line. However, the ye/you variation is hardly significant.
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