The sound of familiar carol tunes, even more than their words, is one that haunts even the most sophisticated of us down the years.
Some tunes have a universal currency, others are purely local.
Most of then are fairly old, or at least they give that impression, although they might only have originated towards the latter part of the nineteenth century. Many people who do not otherwise claim to be either religious or musical, find the sound of Christmas carols to be powerfully evocative, and take part in, or merely attend as sympathetic listeners to carol services with an enthusiasm they do not display at other seasons of the year. Even professional orchestras, whose patrons are for the most part immune to the simplicities of such seasonal music making, find a ready, if casual audience for an annual carol concert. Further comment would now seem to be unnecessary. However, it has to be admitted that some of this writer's earliest musical awareness concerned this imperishable work.