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The
Hymns and Carols
"Song of the Angels," by
Adolphe-William Bouguereau, 1881. "And there were
in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping
watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not:
for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. "And suddenly
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, and saying, "Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men."
Luke 2:8-14 KJV Welcome to the heart of this site, the gateway to the Hymns and Carols of Christmas. From here you can access all the Christmas-tide songs that I've collected in the last 20+ years. Certainly there are many traditions such as the sending of Christmas Cards, and singing Christmas hymns and carols, that are well worth preserving. The purpose of this site is to preserve a rich tradition of Christmas carols and hymns that might otherwise be lost. This is the largest collection of hymns and carols of Christmas ever published in the English language. Wherever possible, I attempt to provide the original, uncorrupted texts as first given by the author. In this desire, I am joined by the Late Lord Selborne, who explained his position in the Preface to The Book of Praise (1864). This site is called "The Hymns and Carols of Christmas." Concerning the hymns see The Theology of Christmas Music by Dr. Robert A. Pyne.
Dictionaries
- Links to dictionaries of Old English, Middle
English and Latin, plus other linguistic resources.
On many pages, you will see links to
"Noteworthy Composer files" and "XML files." Advent - Resources for the Season & Advent Hymns and Carols
Celebrate
The
Great O Antiphons In The Octave Before Christmas
Tables of Contents The notation "Text Only" means that the original collection contains just lyrics, and no music. However, many songs will have music from other collections. These collections are from identifiable dates in the history of English-language and European Christmas hymns and carols, and give a valuable look at how our ancestors celebrated both the holy day and the holiday up to six centuries ago. J. A. Fuller Maitland,
English Carols of the Fifteenth Century
Thomas Wright, ed.,
Songs and Carols
Printed From A Manuscript in the Sloane Collection in the British Museum Thomas Wright,
Songs and Carols Now First Printed
From a Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century
Thomas Wright,
Songs and Carols from a Manuscript in the British Museum of the
Fifteenth Century.
Edward Bliss Reed,
Christmas Carols Printed in the 16th Century
Including Kele's Christmas Carolles Newly Inprynted Thomas
Wright, ed.,
Festive Songs Principally of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
E. K. Chambers and F. Sidgwick,
Early English Lyrics George Ratcliffe Woodward, ed.,
The Christmas Songs in the Pić Cantiones
George Wither's Hymns of the Christmas-tide
Edith Rickert,
Ancient English Christmas Carols This is the full listing of Christmas hymn and carol collections found on this website. New songs and collections of songs are continually being sought and incorporated into the site.
George Wither's Hymns of the Christmas-tide
John Wedderburn, ed.,
A Compendious Book of Godly and Spiritual Songs
Theodoricus Petri,
Pić Cantiones ecclesiasticae et scholasticae veterum episcoporum
Richard Leighton Greene, A Selection of English Carols
New Carolls For This Merry Time of Christmas
Christmas Carols of Waddinge and Devereux
Christmas-tide
Hymns of Charles Wesley
William Knapp,
Anthems for Christmas Day
Joseph Ritson, ed.,
Ancient Songs and
Ballads From the Reign of King Henry the Second to the Revolution. 1790.
A Selection of Hymns for Christmas Day, 1814
Davies Gilbert,
Some Ancient Christmas Carols (1822)
Christmas Carols now annually Printed
William Sandys,
Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern Richard R. Terry,
Gilbert and Sandys' Christmas Carols Anonymous,
Christmas Carols, or Sacred Songs, Suited to the Festival of our Lord's Nativity,
Thomas Wright,
Songs and Carols
Printed From A Manuscript in the Sloane Collection in the British Museum
John Chandler, The
Hymns of the Primitive Church
Isaac Williams, Hymns
Translated from the Parisian Breviary
Frances Elizabeth Cox,
Sacred Hymns from the German Thomas Wright,
Specimens of Old Christmas
Carols Selected from Manuscripts and Printed Books
Henrietta Joan Fry,
Hymns of the Reformation Thomas Wright
and James Orchard Halliwell,
Reliquić Antiquć.
C. Walters,
A Good Christmas Box Thomas Wright,
Songs and Carols Now First Printed
From a Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century Edward F. Rimbault,
A Little
Book of Christmas Carols Thomas
Wright, ed.,
Festive Songs Principally of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
William Sandys,
Christmas-tide, Its History, Festivities and Carols, With Their Music Rev.
John Mason Neale and Rev. Thomas Helmore,
Carols
for Christmas-tide Rev.
John Mason Neale and Rev. Thomas Helmore,
Hymnal Noted
Thomas Wright,
Songs and Carols from a Manuscript in the British Museum of the Fifteenth
Century
Catherine Winkworth,
The Christmas Poems of Catherine Winkworth
Rev. J. (John)
Freeman Young, ed., Carols For
Christmas Tide Also see additional notes in
Joshua Sylvester,
A Garland of
Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern John Henry Hopkins, Jr., Carols, Hymns and Songs Edmund
Sedding, ed.,
Antient Carols for Christmas and Other Tides Arranged For Four Voices.
Second Edition.
John Clark Hollister, ed.,
The
Sunday-School Service and Tune Book
Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer,
Christmas Carols New and Old
Book of Christmas Hymns
William Chatterton Dix,
Hymns and Carols for Children
Bishop Richard Mant,
Ancient Hymns from the Roman
Breviary
A
Selection of Carols, Pieces, and Anthems, Suitable for Christmas
William Henry Husk,
Songs of the
Nativity
Orby Shipley,
Annus Sanctus: Hymns of the Church for the Ecclesiastical Year
A. H. Bullen,
A Christmas Garland: Carols and Poems From The Fifteenth Century To
The Present Time
Arthur H. Brown, ed.,
In Excelsis Gloria-Carols for Christmastide J. H. Hopkins,
Great Hymns of the Church Compiled by the Late Right Reverend John Freeman Young Edgar
Pettman,
Modern Christmas Carols
Richard R. Chope,
Carols for Use in Church George
Ratcliffe Woodward.,
The Hymns and Carols for Christmas-tide Edgar
Pettman,
The Westminster Carol Book Rev. John Brownlie,
Christmas Hymns from The East
George Ratcliffe Woodward,
The Cowley
Carol Book
Phillips Brooks,
Christmas Songs and Easter Carols
E. K. Chambers and F. Sidgwick,
Early English Lyrics George Ratcliffe Woodward, ed.,
Songs of Syon George Ratcliffe Woodward, ed.,
The Christmas Songs in Woodward's Pić Cantiones
Edith Rickert,
Ancient English Christmas Carols Cecil J. Sharp,
English
Folk-Carols Jessie L.
Weston, ed., Old
English Carols from the Hill MS. [Balliol MS 354]
Richard R. Terry,
Twelve Christmas Carols Martin Shaw and Percy Dearmer, The English Carol Book
Charles
L. Hutchins,
Carols Old and Carols New
Charles Wood and George Ratcliffe Woodward, eds.,
An
Italian Carol Book
George Ratcliffe Woodward,
The Babe of Bethlehem
Richard R. Terry,
Old Christmas Carols. Part One.
Charles Wood and George
Ratcliffe Woodward,
The Cambridge Carol-Book W. A. Pickard-Cambridge,
A Collection of Dorset Carols
Ralph Dunstan,
The Cornish Song Book (Lyver Canow
Kernewek)
Richard R. Terry,
A
Medieval Carol Book: The Melodies Chiefly from MMS. in the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, and in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge
Richard R. Terry,
Two Hundred Folk Carols Roy Ringwald, Book Of American Carols
Dr. Steve H. Hakes,
Lyricology Hub The Christmas-tide Carols of Shirley Erena Murray Christmas Readings from the UK by Godfrey Rust
Christmas-tide Hymns from the Eastern Churches Rev. John Mason Neale, Hymns of the Eastern Church (1862). Rev. John Brownlie,
Christmas Hymns from The East Office of Christmas Day - St Cosmas - Richard Frederick Littledale, Offices From The Service Books of the Holy Eastern Church (1863) Canons of Cosmas For Christmas Day - John Mason Neale, Hymns of the Eastern Church (1884)
Three very remarkable men in the 19th century compiled amongst themselves 16 invaluable collections of carols.
Celebrate!
William
Emmett Studwell
Bibliography Sheet Music Sources & Christmas Recordings William Hone,
The
Every Day Book
Brand's Popular
Antiquities Of Great Britain
Excerpt from
King Charles I's Proclamation of 9 Sept 1630: Christmas Carols – William Hone (1823) Christmas Carols now annually Printed - William Hone (1823) Hymns Concerning St. John The Baptist
The Bodleian Library Catalogue of Ballads Broadside Ballads Online from the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford The English Broadside Ballad Archive, University of California, Santa Barbara
Early English Books Online: Search at Univ. of Michigan or Oxford
IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library: Free Public Domain Sheet Music
ChoralWiki, the home of the
Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL)
Please visit and support Project Gutenberg
Carols & Songs for Christmas from The Jubilate Group
Ed de Moel, ed., The Child Ballads.
English Folk Dance and Song Society Vaughan Williams Memorial Library The Full English Digital Archive
Search
the Full English
Multi-media video presentations about favorite carols from Ron Clancy, author of the Christmas Classics™ series of beautifully illustrated Christmas carol books. These videos provide great history about the carols and the people who created them. Some Feast Days During the Christmas-Tide St. Nicholas
St Stephen ◊◊◊ A new
almanack for the yeare of our Lorde God, M.D.LXXII. Calculated for the
Meridian of Oxenforde ◊◊◊ Christmas Plays Christmas Play of Saint George, from William Sandys, Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833) Christmas Play of St. George and the Dragon, from William Sandys, Christmas-tide: its History, Festivities and Carols (1852)
St. George He Was For England,
from William Hone, Volume 2, the
Every-Day Book (1827) A Mock Play, from William Sandys, Christmas-tide: its History, Festivities and Carols (1852) A Mock Play, from William Hone, Volume 2, the Every-Day Book (1827) ◊◊◊ Other Christmas Literature and Reference Works A Little Book for Christmas - Cyrus Townsend Brady (1917) A Righte Merrie Christmasse!!! - John Ashton (1894) Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of England - Robert Bell (1857) (Text) Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England - Robert Bell (PDF) Another Easy Christmas Book - Ruth Putnam Kimball (PDF, Illustrated; Source: Internet Archive) The Children's Book of Christmas Stories - Asa Don Dickinson and Ada M. Skinner Christmas: Its Origin and Associations - William Francis Dawson (1902) Christmas Entertainments - Alice Maude Kellogg Christmas In Legend And Story - Elva S. Smith and Alice I. Hazeltine (1915) Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan - Clement A. Miles (1912) Christmas Stories And Legends - Phebe A. Curtiss (1916) (Text) The Doré Gallery of Bible Illustrations - Gustave Doré (1891) Folk Lore of East Yorkshire - John Nicholson (1890) Holiday Stories for Young People - Margaret E. Sangster The Night Before Christmas and Other Popular Stories For Children - Anonymous Our Holidays: Their Meaning and Spirit - from St. Nicholas Magazine Traditions, Superstitions, and Folklore - Charles Hardwick (1872) Yule-Tide in Many Lands - Mary P. Pringle and Clara A. Urann (1916) ◊◊◊
Holiday music brings holiday cheer! |
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The Hymns and Carols of Christmas © Copyright 1996, All Rights Reserved.
O sing to God your hymns of gladness, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam![]() ![]() ![]() |
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