Carol of the Bells
by Andrew Gregorovich
Music composed by Mykola Dmytrovich Leontovich 1916
English lyrics by Peter J. Wilhousky 1936
Published by Carl Fisher, Inc.
Hark how the bells,
sweet silver bells,
all seem to say,
throw cares away
Christmas is here,
bringing good cheer,
to young and old,
meek and the bold,
Oh how they pound,
raising the sound,
o'er hill and dale,
telling their tale,
Gaily they ring
while people sing
songs of good cheer,
Christmas is here,
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas,
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas,
On on they send,
on without end,
their joyful tone to every home
Dong Ding dong ding, dong Bong
The History of Carol of the Bells
by http://www.angelfire.com/folk/ufa/articles/30FCarol.html
UKRAINIAN MUSIC HAS SLOWLY won a place for itself in the treasury of world music by its beauty and originality. Often foreign composers, recognizing the creative element of Ukraine's music, have incorporated Ukrainian melodies into their own compositions. This is the case with such famous composers as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven and Liszt. However, the Ukrainian ancestry of these melodies has usually been lost sight of in the entire symphony or composition.
There have been relatively few Ukrainian songs that have won widespread recognition in their own right. Undoubtedly the best known among these is Shchedryk which is popularly known as the Carol of the Bells. Every Christmas for the past twenty years this Ukrainian song has appeared in dozens of different arrangements. It has been performed on television shows such as the Julie Andrews Christmas Special, on the stage of New York's Radio City Music Hall, on radio programs, at Christmas tree lighting ceremonies of countless city halls, by church choirs and even in commercials. Renditions have appeared in many choral versions as well as in a multitude of instrumental versions.
The strange thing is that the original Ukrainian Shchedryk is not a Christmas carol. It is a shchedrivka or New Year's carol. How was it that this one song came across the ocean from Ukraine to establish itself so firmly in the Christmas repertoire of the United States and Canada? There are relatively few songs that have won a secure place beside such favorites as Silent Night from Germany.
AFTER UKRAINE BECAME INDEPENDENT in 1918 the government of the Ukrainian National Republic the following year sent out into the world as its goodwill ambassador a choir. This was the famous Ukrainian Republican Capella Choir under the leadership of the composer and director Alexander Koshetz. This choir visited almost every European capital city and later traveled across to the United States and Canada. Koshetz himself later lived in the U.S.A. and then moved to Winnipeg where he died in 1944.
The choir attracted much attention not only for its superb voices but also because of the beauty and arrangements of the songs presented. Among these songs was Shchedryk arranged by the Ukrainian composer and school teacher Mykola Leontovich (1877-1921).
Vienna, which was then the musical capital of Europe, if not of the world, marveled at the choir. One music critic wrote: "Our composers can learn from Leontovich. Shchedryk is a masterpiece, which will remain one of the most precious acquisitions in the world's treasury of choral music." The critic was proven right a half century later when the song finally became a permanent choice of the Christmas musical season.
WHEN KOSHETZ TOURED the United States with his choir, music critics often drew special attention to Shchedryk. It was an American school teacher, Peter J. Wilhousky, who was inspired by the melody to write some English lyrics for it. It was Wilhousky who transformed the Ukrainian New Year's song into an American Christmas "Carol of the Bells."
The original Shchedryk is a carol sung usually on Shchedry Vechir ("Bountiful Evening") or Malanka which is the Ukrainian New Year's Eve, January 13. Like most of these carols it expresses a wish for happiness in the form of a rich harvest. The song mentions a 'lastivka', or swallow, who will return from the south to Ukraine bringing an early Spring and the warmth of the sun. The carol wishes the farmer wealth and also a beautiful wife ("V tebe zhinka chornobrova"). Literally it says "a woman with black, or dark, eyebrows." The reason is that traditionally in Ukrainian folk songs dark eyebrows are a symbol of the beauty of women.
The English words of Peter Wilhousky do not attempt to translate the Ukrainian but they do capture some of the same joyful spirit and hope of happiness.
Christmas With Love Hosted and Written by (unless otherwise specified) Jaci Rae.
Copyright, Jaci Rae and North Shore Records, Inc.
