The carols of Christmas: A celebration of the surprising stories behind your favourite holiday songs - Andrew Gant

*This book is an uncorrected proof

Everyone loves a carol—in the end, even Ebenezer Scrooge. They have the power to summon up a special kind of midwinter mood, like the aroma of gingerbread or the twinkle of lights on a tree. It’s a kind of magic.

But how did they get that magic? Andrew Gant—choirmaster, church musician, university professor, and writer—tells the story of some twenty carols, each accompanied by its lyrics and score, unearthing a captivating and often surprising tale of ancient tradition and tinkers, saints and pagans, shepherds and drunks. Readers will discover the little-known history behind classics such as Good King Wenceslas, Away in a Manger, and O Come, All Ye Faithful, and explore how Hark! The Herald Angels Sing came to replace Hark, How All the Welkin Rings, and how Ralph Vaughan Williams applied the tune of an English folk song to an old poem by a nineteenth-century American preacher, giving us O Little Town of Bethlehem.

A charming book that brims with anecdote, expert knowledge, and Christmas spirit, this is a fittingly joyous account of one of the best-loved musical traditions.