Price codeB
Christmas, midwinter, New YearCatalogue no. 4074
Deck the hall
Music: Trad. Welsh arr. Jennifer Bell, Words: Anon
Voicing: SSA
Performance time approx: 1m 15s
Range S1: f#' – g'' / S2: d' – g'' / A: a – b'
Price code: B
Complexity:
This piece is part of the set "Three songs for the Christmas season".
The set also includes:
Here is a very enjoyable traditional Welsh new year carol (originally also a dance tune), cheerfully arranged for three-part women’s chorus.
The tune Nos Galan (New Year’s Eve) was first published in the late 18th century in London by Edward Jones, who was strongly committed to recording Welsh musical tradition for posterity. It was actually published with a set of love lyrics but the meter is a very common one in Welsh song and many other lyrics fit the tune. The song eventually became associated primarily with the New Year.
The English lyrics here were published in America in 1881 in The Franklin Square Song Collection.
Deck the hall with boughs of holly,
Fa la la la la la la la la
'Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa la la la la la la la la
Don we now our gay apparel,
Fa la la la la la la la la
Troll the ancient Yuletide carol,
Fa la la la la la la la la.
See the blazing Yule before us! [Yule — the Yule log]
Strike the harp and join the chorus!
Follow me in merry measure,
While I sing of Yuletide treasure.
Fast away the old year passes,
Hail the new, ye lads and lasses,
Sing we joyous all together,
Heedless of the wind and weather.
Traditional