Difference between a song and a carol
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,152
    In another topic, the difference between hymns and songs is being discussed. My question is when is a song a carol? Are they just Christmas songs? Are there carols for other seasons? Are the terms interchangeable?
  • PaixGioiaAmorPaixGioiaAmor
    Posts: 1,473
    What's the difference between a Chaconne and Passacaglia?

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  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,150
    There are indeed carols for other seasons ... Easter carols, Epiphany carols, Advent carols (some of which are confused with Christmas carols),...

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  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    Difference between a song and a carol


    Jauntiness.
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  • Liam
    Posts: 4,942
    There are no Lenten carols. Carols are celebratory; they are a folk idiom at heart.
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  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    There are no Lenten carols


    However, there are many long Carols which have long sections on the Passion of Christ. "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day" comes to mind most readily. (c.f. New Oxford Book of Carols)

    The term "carol" comes from the Old French "carole" - a circle dance accompanied by instruments. There are many ancient carols in which the dance is particularly present: "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day", "Angelus ad virginem", "Sans day carol", etc.

    An important distinction is to be made between the Christmas Carol and the Christmas Hymn. Generally, if the text is by a known author and the music by a known composer and intended for use in Church, it is a hymn. Such Christmas Hymns masquerading as Carols are "While Shepherds watched their flocks" "Joy to the World" "Adeste fideles" "Hark! the Herald Angels" "Once in Royal David's city" etc.
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  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    Yes, jauntiness!
    The early carols, beginning as early as the XIth century, are of a dance-like rhythm and have texts of a festive nature related to joyful events. Our 'carol' is from the early French 'carole', which was a type of circle dance. The French word, I believe has a Latin progenitor. As carols developed, they often, but not always, are in a verse and refrain, or responsorial form, also often macaronic. The text often tells a story, and is sometimes surprisingly theologically astute. While religious in nature they are not liturgical and are best sung at pre- or non-liturgical events. By extension, by 'carol' is in modern times taken, erroneously, to mean almost any song that is sung at Christmas, most people being unaware that there are many carols for other events in the liturgical year. A ready compendium would be The Oxford Book of Carols.
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  • Richard R.
    Posts: 774
    Volume 36 of Musica Britannica, entitled "Early Tudor Songs and Carols", contains dozens of non-Christmas pieces in the carol form. The ones from the Fayrfax Manuscript are especially rich, the most famous being the Lenten carol, "Woefully arrayed" by William Cornish, which you can hear on the Tallis Scholars' collection of Cornish's music. (Every choral director needs access to a good music library that contains series of collected works, whether national or by composer. Mine is at the Catholic University of America.)
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  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    Every choral director needs access to a good music library

    Pour l'Amen, une fugue! (36:30 par exemple)

    It's still good to know that as of last month the Fayrfax ms. is up on IMSLP.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Richard R.
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