Carol of the Bells

"Carol of the Bells" (also known as the "Ukrainian Bell Carol") is a choral miniature work originally composed by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych. Throughout the composition, Leontovych used a four note motif as an ostinato which was taken from an ancient pagan Ukrainian New Year's chant known in Ukrainian as "Shchedryk". The original work was intended to be sung a cappella. Three variants of the composition were created by the composer.

"The Carol of The Bells" was premiered on December 1916 by a choral group made up of students at Kiev University. It was introduced to Western audiences by the Ukrainian National Chorus during its concert tour of Europe and the Americas, where it premiered in the United States on October 5, 1921 at Carnegie Hall. It was later adapted into English language version by Peter Wilhousky in the 1930s. An alternate English version ("Ring, Christmas Bells") with more explicitly Nativity-based lyrics, written by Minna Louise Hohman in 1947, is also widely performed.

Origins and translation

The song is based on a traditional folk chant whose language was thought to have magical properties, because of the manner in which it manipulated the number 3. The original traditional Ukrainian text used a device, known as hemiola, in the rhythm (alternating the accents within each measure from 3/4 to 6/8 and back again). This device is lost in the English translations and rarely is used in non-Ukrainian performances. The ostinato motif, a repeated four-note pattern within the range of a minor third is thought to be of prehistoric origins. It was associated with the coming New Year which, in pre-Christian Ukraine, was originally celebrated in April.

With the introduction of Christianity to Ukraine, the celebration of the New Year was moved from April to January, and the holiday the chant originally was associated with became the Feast of Epiphany (also known in Ukrainian as Shchedry vechir). The songs sung for this celebration are known as Schedrivky.

The original Ukrainian text tells the tale of a swallow flying into a household to proclaim the plentiful and bountiful year that the family will have. The title is derived from the Ukrainian word for "bountiful." The period for the birth of animals and the return of swallows to Ukraine however does not correspond to the current calendar season of winter.

In Ukraine, the carol is currently sung on the eve of the Julian New Year (January 13).

The four-note theme over a minor 3rd of the chant was used by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych as an ostinato throughout the piece. Three different arrangements done by the composer exist of the piece, one with piano accompaniment, a version for children's choir. The most used version is the variant for mixed chorus. The arrangement for mixed voice choir a cappella was popularized by the Ukrainian Republic Capella, directed by Oleksander Koshetz, when it toured the West after 1920.

Notable performances

• Richard Carpenter played piano in an orchestral version arranged by Peter Knight on the Carpenters Christmas Portrait album released in October 1978.
• Chip Davis and his band Mannheim Steamroller recorded an original arrangement released on their album A Fresh Aire Christmas in 1988. Recording label: American Gramaphone.
• George Winston played solo piano on his December album/CD in the late 1980s, acknowledging it as a traditional Ukranian song.
• Canadian musician and composer/songwriter David Foster composed and performed his own version for the NBC Christmas special "David Foster's Christmas Album" on December 10, 1993 to promote "The Christmas Album", both of which featured other Grammy-award winning performers.
• Savatage and side project The Trans-Siberian Orchestra have done a popular remake entitled "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo (12/24)" that plays on many radio stations around Christmas.
• French pop music icon Charles Aznavour, Norwegian crossover soprano Sissel Kyrkjebø, and Spanish operatic tenor Plácido Domingo recorded Carol of the Bells together at the third Christmas in Vienna concert on December 22, 1994.
• The version with Minna Louise Hohman's 1947 lyrics has been recorded by the Ray Conniff Singers, Andy Williams and Julie Andrews with The Treorchy Male Choir [1], among others.
• At holiday season concerts, the folk-rock group Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams usually performs a version of their song "Slambovia" which is intertwined with the tune of "Carol of the Bells." This version was released on their live "Bootleg Series" album The Christmas Show 2004.
• Irish singer Moya Brennan recorded a version for her Celtic-themed Christmas album, An Irish Christmas
• The song is featured on X-mas In Hell By Sixx:A.M. on the album "The Heroin Diaries."
• The song has also been played as an instrumental by the Progressive Metalcore band August Burns Red, which was originally recorded for the X Christmas compilation, but was re-released on their b-sides EP Lost Messengers: The Outtakes.
• Celtic Woman performed this song live at the Helix Center in Dublin, Ireland for a Christmas celebration.
• John Tesh charted the song. Billboard Adult Contemporary survey, 1997.
• John Williams included this piece and made his own version of it. It is on the Home Alone soundtrack, along with other 18 entries, that consists of his original score and other Christmas songs. It was released by Sony Music Entertainment in 1990.
• It was sung by a chorus as the opening to the first Santa Clause movie.
• Jennifer Hudson sang the song on Elmo's Christmas Countdown in December 2007
• Gary Hoey performed a guitar driven instrumental of this song, along with numerous other Christmas songs, in his Ho! Ho! Hoey series of albums.

Parodies

• The song is the basis of an infamous internet meme popularly known as "Ding Fries are Done," in which a Burger King employee uses the tune to sing a song about how he works at Burger King, makes French fries and wears paper hats. This parody was recreated in the Family Guy episode "Deep Throats" during a cutaway scene in which Peter Griffin takes the role of the Burger King employee.
• The song is parodied in Garmin advertisements.
• "Carol of the Bells" was also parodied in another Family Guy episode, "Perfect Castaway," as one of the featured songs on Peter's prospective Christmas album.
• Mr. Mackey from South Park sang a multi-part (overdubbed), a cappella version of the carol in the episode "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics." In Mr. Mackey's version, he inserts his catch phrase by changing "All seem to say/Throw cares away" to "All seem to say/Ding dong m'kay."
• Guster parodied the song on the 2004 single "Carol of the Meows," replacing the lyrics with simulated cat noises.

External links

• Several variants of the Carol of the Bells