The English Carol Book

Complete Edition, 1938

Martin Shaw and Percy Dearmer , Editors
(London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., Ltd., 1919)

See: First Series and Second Series

Introduction by Martin Shaw

The English Carol Book (First Series) appeared in 1913. A Second Series was added in 1919. Both Series have been several times reprinted, and are now for the first time appearing under one cover.

The Editor of the Words (and the inspirer of the whole collection) passed away last year. The English Carol Book represented the first of many collaborations between him and me. I feel sure he would have welcomed the present issue in one volume, and I should like to dedicate it to his memory.

The following extracts from the Prefaces to the original editions are retained as giving some indication of the purpose and scope of the collections and of the assistance which we received in compiling them.

MARTIN SHAW

S. Philip and S. James
     May 1, 1938

Introduction by Percy Dearmer and Martin Shaw

It is a remarkable thing that the Victorian era -- which produced, in the ordinary way of business, a book which such beautiful and appropriate woodcuts as those contained in a popular volume of Carols now lying before me -- could have produced no musician willing to arrange the tunes for choral use in a manner corresponding to the sturdy peasant-note which is so characteristic of them; no musician, indeed, who could even perceive that a folk-tune is a different thing from a sentimental part-song like "Sweet and Low." This was typical of the taste of the 'seventies, when churchgoers could apparently fix their mind of the highest things of all, and at the same time cheerfully submit to whatever banality in the shape of chant, hymn, anthem, or service, might be produced by those who were supposed to guard the traditions of ecclesiastical song.

There seem, however, indications that a change in popular taste is at hand, and it is with the hope that the time is ripe for an attempt to be made to present our national Carols in a manly and fitting way that the present collection is offered to the public.

Our thanks are due to the Rev. G. R. Woodward, and the publishers of The Cowley Carol Book for permission to use two of his translations; to Miss Nan Knowles, for clerical help; to the Rev. Gabriel Gillett, for his new translation of "Angelus ad Virginem"; to Mr. Geoffrey Dearmer, for his translation of the "Legend"; to Mr. Selwyn Image, for his contributions of original Carols, specially written for the present book; to Dr. Vaughan Williams, for his setting of the Salutation Carol; to Mr. Mackmurdo, for permission to use the late Lionel Johnson's Carol, "Hominum Laudes"; to Mr. Frank Kidson, for communicating the words and tune of No. 23; and to Mr. Geoffrey Shaw for his two new Carol tunes and for his settings of old Carol tunes, and for his valuable advice and help throughout. Except where otherwise stated, the arrangements of the tunes are by Mr. Martin Shaw.

It is intended that there should be two or three different strands in this collection. The main strand is the traditional English Carol, the religious folk-song of our people; but there are also a few of the most beautiful Carols of other countries, translated into English, and a few also by modern writers, since it is a good thing to keep an art alive, and to add a little that is new to the old, if the new be worthy, as it seems to me to be in this case. Some modern writers have written find Carols, notably Mr. Selwyn Image; and some have written tunes which have the true ring. Moreover, in some cases, new work is necessary because the original tune of an old Carol has been lost, and in some there are no English words to a tune. It will also be noticed that a certain number of the old Carols in this volume are well known, and others hardly known at all. Both kinds should be welcome; and all, I think, are beautiful.

The Folk Carols have often been preserved in more than once version; and doubtless, if the words of every company of wassailers had been taken down, they would never have been quite the same. There is thus no authentic "text"; and here and there we have put in a missing word which is needed for the singing, and was indeed probably sung. But otherwise we have not interfered with the originals, except occasionally to omit a verse. They are often rough and quaint, and do not always fit into our present ideas of grammar; but they are true and sweet, with the proper quality of real songs (which are like the strings of an instrument ready for their music), and with a certain tender and mellow humanity. Like the ancient buildings round which they were sung, these Folk Carols would only be spoilt by attempts at reconstruction or embellishment.

Since often the words only of an old Carol are preserved, and sometimes only the tune, this collection contains, besides complete traditional examples, some old Carols now mated to traditional tunes which would otherwise be wordless, and some for which tunes have been written either by the Musical Editor or by the gifted composers who have kindly come to our assistance. In this way, Herrick's Christmas Carol carries an old church-gallery tune (37), and Ben Jonson and William Morris are set by Mr. Rutland Boughton (35) and Dr. Vaughan Williams (48); and, while some of the beautiful old English Carols of pre-Reformation date have their own tunes, others have been now brought, we hope, into common use again by Mr. John Ireland (46), Mr. Stanley Nicholson (52), and the Musical Editor (39, 43). We have also to thank Mr. Joseph Moorat and Mr. Laurence Housman for the two Carols (Nos. 47 and 50) from their Nativity Play, "Bethlehem"; Mr. L. J. T. Darwall for the tunes to Nos. 37, 40, and 54; Miss J. H. Blunt for the tunes No. 41. Mr. Cecil Sharp has allowed us to include No. 49. For the late Mr. Chatterton Dix's Carol (No. 53) we are indebted to the kind permission of his daughter.

It is highly desirable, in performing these Carols, never to sing all the verses through in the same way. Variety may be obtained, for instance, by singing the first and last verses (and in the case of a long Carol, other selected verses) in unison. Some (as, for example, The Corpus Christi Carol in the First Series) may be treated as a solo, and the organ harmonies sung bouche fermée by the choir. The organ may be brought in with thrilling effect in a Carol like the "First Nowell," after having been silent in the middle verses. A fine antiphonal effect may be produced by alternate singing of choir and people. We have introduced in some cases a new musical feature, which we have called the praeludium. It consists of one or two irregular lines, sung as a solo before the Carol begins, and connected musically with the carol tune.

P. D.

M. S.