History Series: Carol of the Bells
History of Carol of the Bells
From a Ukrainian folk song
The popular Christmas song, Carol of the Bells, is based on a Ukrainian folk song that initially had nothing to do with Christmas and was, in fact, popular in pre-Christian Ukraine.
How did this folk song become such a popular American Christmas carol, and what was its journey from a Ukrainian folk song to a modern choral favorite?
For a 1919 Christmas concert, Ukrainian choral conductor, arranger, composer, writer, musicologist, and lecturer Oleksander Koshyts commissioned a song based on Ukrainian folk melodies and created a national chorus to sing it.
Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych accepted the commission and adapted an old folk song into “Shchedryk,” which he premiered in Kyiv in December 1916. The Ukrainian word shchedryj means “bountiful.”
Leontovych was a prodigious choral conductor, composer, and teacher. Born in 1877 to a religious family in southwestern Ukraine, he completed seminary theological studies. He produced over 150 other classic works for choirs all over Ukraine and Russia.
