[Magdalen] Do you remeber or know these carols?

Joseph Cirou romanos at mindspring.com
Mon Dec 28 01:18:09 UTC 2015


Looked up those titles in "Diehl" No luck. that the standard reference for hymns in the US. Before the real age of computers it contained all the hymnals and text and tunes in US hymnals until about 1964 including the then proposed United Methodist Hymnal published later in the 60's and superseded by at least one major edition.

The book is still in print and has not been updated. Someone has some work to do, to replicate what the editor accomplished with little to none computer aids 51 years ago.

the other hymns were familiar especially Rocking and The Lord at First Did Adam Make. We have a good Slavic population in the US; so what may have appeared as novelties in the UK are relatively familiar in areas that have Czech and other Slavic groups especially for  Christmas. I have Rocking in a standard carol collection for voice and piano that I use.  Of course I am a huge fan of hymns and carols in particular.

I enjoyed the Cowley Carol Book, I had been looking for it since the mid 60's. What are the rights on the original harmonization from Cowley of On Easter Morn At Break of Day? We sang it in school, and I saw the credits and had been looking for the original after singing the Shaw-Parker arrangement for years. We had that tune in our seminary hymnal, and I haven't carefully looked (after all these years) of determining whether the acc was the original or cobbed from the Shaw-Parker arrangement in a lower key. It was omitted from later editions of our seminary hymnal, but I have seen a version where it had been included. I wonder if there were copyright problems or just the judgment that the tune was best sung by the choir and not congregation (at least in the 50's 60's) I have always been proud of our pre Vatican II music staff which introduced Oxford Book of Carols material to a Roman Catholic congregation of major seminaries between 1945 and 1960. We knew all about a Virgin Unspotted and the Sussex Mummers Carol (which was a favorite) for years.

Joe

Joe Cirou

-----Original Message-----
>From: Ian Gomersall <ian.gomersall at gmail.com>
>Sent: Dec 27, 2015 2:57 PM
>To: "Magdalen at herberthouse.org" <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
>Subject: [Magdalen] Do you remeber or know these carols?
>
>At Church we've been talking a little about Carols and we've been asking
>some of our people about Carols they've not heard for awhile.
>
>See  https://stchrysostoms.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/remember-these-carols/
>
>Two came up which which only the person themselves seemed to have heard of.
>I wondered if anyone here knew them:
>
>"*A mantle of frost and a carpet of snow, *and
>
>*Cold was the moon but the heart of man was colder."*
>
>I know those who suggested them would love to see the full words and even
>music.
>Anyone able to help (do feel free to share with someone you feel may know
>if you wish)
>
>Thank you and best wishes this Cristmastime.
>
>*Ian Gomersall*





More information about the Magdalen mailing list