Next to the Christmas tree, they are an inseparable element of every Christmas. It seems to us that Christmas carols are so old that they have always existed. But is it really?
Interestingly, initially, Christmas carols had little to do with Christmas. They were simply happy New Year's songs, derived from folk traditions. With time, even eminent composers began to create them.
Happy New Years Songs
The etymology of the word Christmas carol can be found in Latin. The term calende literally translated means "the first day of the month". Already the Slavs described the first day of the year in this way, which they celebrated as a mating holiday. So originally, the Christmas carol was a completely secular, joyful hymn to welcome the new year .
January 1 was also a special day in ancient Rome. At this time, the most important officials of the empire - consuls - took over their office. In turn, in 46 BCE Julius Caesar announced this day as the administrative beginning of the year with one of his decrees . At that time, Christmas carols became songs with which not only was the new year welcomed, but also wishes of prosperity were made to each other.
Interestingly, at first the Christmas carols had little to do with Christmas.
Christmas elements appeared in Christmas carols with the development of Christianity, which took over a lot of Roman customs and rituals. One of them was caroling, that is, traditional visiting your loved ones and giving them gifts on the occasion of the beginning of the next year . With time, Christmas carols became ritual songs sung in Latin, with their content referring to the Gospel. However, these were not typical Christmas and Christmas songs.
The first medieval Christmas carol
When was the first Christian Christmas carol written? Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to this question. We can consider the Latin song Jesus refulsit omnium to be the first Christmas carol in the religious sense. ( Jesus enlightens everything ). This is the work of St. Hilary, dating back to the 4th century, more precisely from 336, when the first Christmas celebration in history was recorded . However, many scholars argue that this piece should more be considered a hymn. In fact, carols were not sung during services until the 13th century. It was the first time that St. Francis of Assisi, who intoned a Christmas song in a nativity scene he organized.
When was the first Christian Christmas carol composed?
What are the other "candidates" for the first ever Christmas carol? In the Middle Ages, French song Friendly animals, telling about the animals surrounding Christ at birth. Its history dates back to the 12th century, which makes it a strong contender for the title of the oldest Christmas carol. Interestingly, it is sung in many French and British parishes even today. The German-Latin Christmas carol In Dulci Jubilo also dates from a similar period (later appeared in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach).
In fact, it was only with the invention of the printing press by Jan Gutenberg in the mid-15th century that Christmas carols began to live on the pages of books and parchments. Thanks to this, the words and melodies of many of them have survived to this day. Over time, each Christian country developed its own canon of Christmas songs, which over time moved from streets and squares to church interiors.
Polish carol monuments
Poland did not lag behind other Christian countries. The first Christmas carol in our language - Zdrow or the King of England - it dates back to 1424. Its text was recorded in a sermon by priest Jan Szczekna, a Prague Magister, later a Cistercian monk and confessor of Queen Jadwiga. This song was not found until the end of the 19th century in St. Petersburg, in the manuscript of Załuski Library probably from the library of the vicars of Wiślica.
Many Polish Christmas carols, both those sung to this day and those already forgotten, date from the 15th and 16th centuries. They are most often folk songs or translations of Latin songs. And so probably from the Latin song Dies est laetitiae a famous Christmas carol was created The Angel told the Shepherds. Its seven stanzas, without notation, were found in the Kórnik manuscript from 1551.
photo:Albert Chevallier Tayler / public domain Many Polish Christmas carols, both those sung to this day and those already forgotten, date back to the 15th and 16th centuries.
One of the most beautiful Polish Christmas carols is a piece composed at the end of the 18th century by the Renaissance poet Franciszek Karpiński. Song of the Nativity of the Lord we know today more as God is born . Interestingly, it was commissioned by Princess Izabela Lubomirska née Czartoryska, and was sung for the first time in a church in Białystok. Depending on the period and region, it was sung to different melodies. (The most popular one is in the rhythm of a polonaise). Some historians even believe that it is a reference to the coronation polonaise of Polish kings from the times of Stefan Batory.
The most famous Christmas carol in the world
There is also a carol that has been translated into over 300 languages and dialects (including African, Lower Sorbian, Greenlandic, Zuluk and Thai). Stille Nacht , which is Silent Night , was sung for the first time during the Midnight Mass in 1818 in the town of Oberndorf near Salzburg. Two years earlier, a local priest, Joseph Mohr, wrote lyrics to which a melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber (an organist from a nearby parish). Soon after, a copy of the carol appeared in Salzburg, and then it traveled to other German cities. Tonight Silent Night is known and sung all over the world.
Bibliography:
- Hubert Nowak, The oldest Polish Christmas carols, veritasdehistoria.wordpress.com (accessed on 30/09/2021).
- Mieczysław Klimowicz, Enlightenment, PWN 2012.
- Music Encyclopedia, Andrzej Chodkowski (ed.), PWN 1995.
- Marta Kucharczyk, What do you not know about Silent Night? This Christmas carol is sung in 330 languages all over the world! Where did her phenomenal career come from? , National Geographic (accessed September 30, 2021).
- Joe Lynch, What’s the World’s Oldest Christmas Carol? , Billboard.com (accessed September 30, 2021).