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...

PART 1: COMPOSED CAROLS

THE MIDDLE AGES

• Verbum Supernum Prodiens/High Word of God Eternal Light
• Veni Redemptor Gencium/Come Thou Redeemer of the Earth
• Christe Redemptor Omnium/O Christ the Father's Only Son
• A Solis Ortus Cardine/From Lands that See the Sun Arise
• Letabundus/Come Rejoicing
• Festa Dies Agitur
• Dieus Soit En Cheste Maison
• Angelus ad Virginem/Gabriel fram Heven King
• Procedenti Puero-Eya! Noveus Annus Est/Verbum Caro Factum Est-Eya!
• ...