Tidings of Comfort & Joy

This slim collection of beautiful Christmas carols -- popular and rare, familiar and uncommon -- is designed for musicians of all ages, with fifty gorgeous carols and hymns written in basic, flexible arrangements for voice and instruments in C (particularly violins and flutes). Including historical notes and full lyrics, it is both practical and informative, musical and literary. This collection of classic Yuletide carols for is a unique and inexpensive anthology perfect for Christmas parties, caroling, or simply familiarizing oneself with Christmas musical literature. The songs it contains are culturally rich and historically significant: classic Victorian carols, Medieval French rounds, German folk songs, Spanish chants, Appalachian rounds, and African-American spirituals -- each with a rich history. Most are old favorites, but some are underappreciated musical gems, and all have been deeply tied to the cultural and spiritual heritage of Christmastime. This book of music includes appendixes with historical notes on the carols and the complete lyrics. Perfect for novice and advanced musicians alike, this collection is more concerned with spirit than technique, allowing the musicians to improvise as they wish, but providing a straight-forward transcription that honors the spirit of the original music. Included in this edition are favorites such as O Holy Night, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, We Three Kings, Silent Night, Ding Dong Merrily on High, What Child is This?, O Come O Come Emmanuel, I Wonder as I Wander, Still Still Still, The First Noel, The Coventry Carol, and God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, but also includes lesser-known, under appreciated standards such as The Boar's Head Carol, The Cherry Tree Carol, Gabriel's Message, The Echo Hymn, The Gloucestershire Wassail, Masters in this Hall, The Sussex Carol, The Gower Wassail, This Endris Night, Down in Yon Forest, and The Friendly Beasts. *****BONUS: Includes Charles Dickens' Christmas punch recipe, a genuine Victorian recipe for Christmas pudding, and two short Yuletide tales from Dickens and Washington Irving