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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CAR-CAU |
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CAROL (O. Fr. carole) , a hymn of praise, especially such as is sung at Christmas in the open air. The origin of the word is obscure. Diez suggests that the word is derived from chorus. Others ally it with corolla, a garland, circle or coronet,' the earliest sense of the word being apparently " a ring " or " circle," " a ring dance." Stonehenge, often called the Giants' Dance, was also frequently known as the Carol; thus Harding, Chron. lxx. x., " Within (the) Giauntes Carole, that so they hight, The (Stone hengles) that nowe so named been." The Celtic forms, often cited as giving the origin of the word, are derivatives of the English or French. The crib set up in the churches at Christmas was the centre of a dance, and some of the most famous of Latin Christmas hymns were written to dance tunes. These songs were called Wiegenlieder in German, noels in French, and carols in English. They were originally modelled on the songs written to accompany the choric dance, which were probably the starting-point of the lyric poetry of the Germanic peoples. Strictly speaking, there-fore, the word should be applied to lyrics ,written to dance measures
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i In architecture, the term " carol " (also wrongly spelled " carrel " or " carrol ") is used, in the sense of an enclosure, of a small chapel or oratory enclosed by screens, and also sometimes of the rails of the screens themselves. It is more particularly, applied to the separate seats near the windows of a cloister (q.v.), used by the monks for the purposes of study, &c. The term " carol " has, by a mistake, been sometimes used of a scroll bearing an inscription of a text, &c.superseded the Latin and Teutonic feasts of the winter solstice, lent itself especially to gaiety. The " crib " of the Saviour was set up in the churches or in private houses, in the traditional setting of the stable, with earthen figures of the Holy Family, the ox and the ass; and carols were sung and danced around it. The " rocking of the cradle " was the occasion of dialogue between Joseph and Mary which was not without elements of comedy, and gave rise to lullabies such as the well-known German Dormi fili. The adoration of the shepherds and the visit of the Magi also provided matter for dramatic and choral representation. The singing of the carol has survived in places where the institution of the "crib," said to have been originated by St Francis of Assisi to inculcate the doctrine of the incarnation, has been long in disuse, but in the West Riding of Yorkshire the children who go round carol-singing still carry " millyboxes " (My Lady boxes) containing figures which represent the Virgin and Child. That carol-singing early became a pretext for the asking of alms is obvious from an Anglo-Norman carol preserved in the British Museum (MS. Reg. 16 E. viii.), Seigneurs ore entendey a nus, which is little more than a drinking song. Carols were an important element
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" Sing, oh ! my love, oh ! my love, my love, my love ; This have I done for my true love." There are extant numerous carols dating from the 15th century which have the characteristic features of folksong. The famous Cherry-tree Carol, " Joseph was an old man," is based on an old legend which is related in the Coventry mystery plays. " I saw three ships come sailing in," and " The Camel and the Crane," though of more modern date, preserve curious legends. Numerous entries in the household accounts of the Tudor sovereigns show that carol-singing was popular throughout the 16th century, and the literature of Christmas was enriched in the next century by poems which are often included in collections of carols, though they were probably written to be read rather than sung. Milton, Crashaw, Southwell, Ben Jonson, George Herbert and George Wither all produced Christmas poems, but the richest collection by any one poet is to be found in the poems of Herrick, whose " Come, bring with a noise " is a typical carol of the jovial kind, and may well have been written to a dance tune. Among 18th-century religious carols perhaps the most famous is Charles Wesley's " Hark, how all the welkin rings," better known in the variant, " Hark, the herald angels sing." The artificial modern revival of carol-singing has produced a quantity of new carols, the best of which are perhaps mostly derived from medieval Latin Christmas hymns. Among the many modern Christmas poems one of the most striking is Swinburne's " Three Damsels in the Queen's Chamber," which is, however, a ballad rather than a carol. The earliest printed collection of carols was issued by Wynkyn de Worde in 1521. It contained the famous Boar's Head carol, Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes Domino, which in a slightly altered form is sung at Queen's College, Oxford, on the bringing in of the boar's head. Modern collections of ancient carols are derived chiefly from three tracts belonging to the collection of Anthony A. Wood
The term noel passed into the English carol as a favourite refrain, " nowell," and seems to have been in common use in France as an equivalent for Meat. Among the more important modern collections of Christmas carols are: Songs and Carols (1847), edited by T. Wright
V. H., 4th ed., 1872) ; T. Helmore and J. M. Neale, Carols for Christmastide (1853-1854), with music; R. R. Chope, Carols (new and complete edition, 1894), a tune-book for church use, with an introduction by S. Baring-Gould; H. R. Bramley, Christmas Carols, New and Old, the music by Dr Stainer; A. H. Bullen, Carols and Poems (1885) ; J. A. Fuller Maitland and W. S. Rockstro, Thirteen Carols of the Fifteenth Century, from a Trinity Coll., Cambridge , MS. (1891). See also Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, s.v. " Carol "; E. Cortet, Essai sur les fetes religieuses (1867).End of Article: CAROL (O. Fr. carole) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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