Contains music and texts of 201 carols for the Christmas season, each with notes on historical background and performance. This work contains a general introduction, which gives an overview of the history of the carol, and there are a number of appendices dealing with specific areas of the repertory.
Music and texts of 201 carols for the Christmas season (many in more than one setting), each with copious notes on historical background and performance. An extensive general introduction gives an overview of the history of the carol, and there are a number of appendices dealing with specific areas of the repertory. The book's approach is an attempt to rediscover the native vitality of material that has sometimes been debased and sentimentalized, by means of`authentic' period settings and a concern for historically informed performance.
The major new resource this Christmas is the long-awaited paperback edition of The New Oxford Book of Carols . . . This is far more than just another carol book . . . In addition to OUP's always superb musical typography, there are comprehensive and well-researched footnotes and the extensive introduction includes a fascinating potted overview of the development of the carol genre in its social setting . . . This is not only an elegant tome but a truly indispensable resource for all who take a serious and cerebral interest in this fascinating aspect of a continually developing choral tradition.
