The Carols of Christmas: a Celebration of the Surprising Stories Behind Your Favorite Holiday Songs

Publisher Marketing: From Oxford professor and renowned British composer, a joyous account of the history behind our favorite carols. Everyone loves a carol in the end, even Ebenezer Scrooge. They have the power to summon up a special kind of mid-winter mood, like the aroma of gingerbread or the twinkle of lights on a tree. It s a kind of magic. But how did they get that magic? Andrew Gant choirmaster, church musician, university professor, and writer tells the story of some twenty carols, each accompanied by lyrics and music, unraveling a captivating, and often surprising, tale of great musicians and thinkers, saints and pagans, shepherd boys and choirboys. Readers get todelve into the history of such favorites as Good King Wenceslas, Away in a Manger, and O, Tannenbaum, discovering along the way how Hark, the Herald Angels Sing came to replace Hark, how all the welkin ring and how Ralph Vaughan Williams applied the tune of an English folk song about a dead ox to a poem by a nineteenth century American pilgrim to make O Little Town of Bethlehem. A charming book that brims with anecdote, expert knowledge, and Christmas spirit, this is a fittingly joyous account of one of the best-loved musical traditions. " Review Citations: CBA Retailers 06/01/2015 pg. 26 (EAN 9780718031527, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Gant, Andrew Andrew Gant is a composer, choirmaster, church musician, university teacher and writer. He has directed many leading choirs including The Guards' Chapel, Worcester College Oxford, and Her Majesty's Chapel Royal. He lectures in Music at St Peter's College and St Edmund Hall in Oxford, where he lives with his wife and their three children. Christmas Carols is an exploration of traditional carols and their unusual histories. Visit the Christmas Carols musical advent calendar!