Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-12-16
NEXT WEEKS FEATURES IN THEATRES WORLD OF MUSIC
THE CRITIC TALKS
TO MUSIC LOVERS

though the musical harmonlxations
which We know are BY modern com ,
posers, are traditional In words ana
many Of them in melody also.
It is probable that the Christmas
carol had its origin in the mystery or
miracle plays Of. the twelfth and thif.
teenth centuries, the great religious and
popular entertainments Of the Middle
Ages. From that time on TO the nine :
teenth century the number grew, al
though the custom Of popularly singing
them waned In the last hundred years
or so.
TT WOULD be fine thing for Phila
l. delphia to take up this fine old Gus =
tom, provided tho singers were willing
to work sufficiently hard to do justice
to the music, which is not always easy
to sing.
Many of the carols Of the fifteenth
century have all the characteristics OF
folk song and preserve some curious
legends. In England during the six. :.
teenth and seventeenth centuries carol
singing fourished and some Of the great
est poets Of the day, Milton and Ben
Jonson among them, wrote some benu.
tiful Christmas poems which were used
as carols, some to traditional melodies
and others to tunes composed especially
for the words.
The first published collection Of carols
was made in England in 1921. and II
contained the famous "Boar's Head
CAROL which Is still sung at Oxford
University on the bringing in OF the
boar's head. Needless to say. this very
old carol is one of those which might
be clasSed as "secular.'
The composers and the authors OF
the words Of the carols are lost in
antiquity in most cases. Holy Night
has frequently been ascribcd TO Martin
Luther, but the consensus OF expert
opinion is that it Is much older than his
time and that it Is one Of !he oldest of
Germen folk songs in existence. 1t is
believed TO have come down 10 us in
almost, IL not exactly, its original me-
THE carol. God Rest Ye Merry,
L Gentlemen" is English and dates
back to the beginning of the seventeenth
century. Originally this was sung in
strict polyphony. with the melody in the
tenor part, as was the custom of songs
of that day. Modern prescriptions
of II. however. have placed the melody
Ill tne upper. lnStpau or ne fnllu VOICE
Another exquisite carol. Draw Nigh.
Immanuel.' is French in origin and IS
one Of the oldest pieces of coherent
music in existence. Both the words
and the music antedate any Of the
other carols. 1t is not very we'll known
in this country, but is one Of the finest
Of them all. The music i. traditional
French melody from at least the thir-
tcenth century. although of course tho
harmonization which we know has been
n"derniZed. II was in an old French
inlssal and the original manuscript is
still preserved in the National Library
Of Lisbon. probably being brought from
France into Portugal by the influence
OF the Council of Toledo or some other
important church body.
The words OF this carol are II, least
100 Years older than the musi,
being taken from the M4zarabc Brey
:ary OF the twelfth century. and i. !,
generally believed that they came from,
the liturgy Of the early Christians at
Toledo. Spain. where The Mozaralic
| Breviary was fOrmulatcd