Original Carols
In 2015 or 2016 I started a tradition of composing an annual Christmas Carol and sharing it with friends and family. (The reason for the ambiguity is that I was in medical school at the time, and honestly, the years were a blur.) The current Christmas Carol selection found in most hymnals or remembered by people from their childhood consists of a few dozen or so carols, but there are hundreds of unused carol texts in existence, long since abandoned, and a veritable gold mine for someone with more musical than lyrical skill like myself. The website Hymns and Carols of Christmas has been an invaluable resource and repository of these lyrics. Now there are far more clunkers than not, but every once and a while I find a gem that would easily be brought to modern audiences, with a few necessary adjustments.
The inspiration for an annual Christmas Carol began with Alfred S. Burt, a jazz musician and son of an Episcopal minister, born in Marquette, Michigan (a wintry, magical city on the shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) in 1920. Alfred was a prodigy on the cornet, and began composing church music at a young age for his father. He was eventually asked to compose a setting for a Christmas poem his father had discovered, and the rest was history. His father began to send these carols out yearly to their family and friends in the annual Christmas letter. What followed were 15 modern carols, many of which have entered the current repertoire, including This is Christmas, and Caroling, Caroling, as well as the sublime Some Children See Him. Tragically, Alfred was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1953, and he passed away in 1954, at the age of 33.
Below you can find my annual carols. The lyrics are resurrected from decades to centuries past. The melodies and harmonies are my own. They are arranged, like most hymns and carols, for four parts. Please enjoy freely, at home, at church, or wherever you may be. Leave a comment if you found them a blessing for your Christmas season.
2018 – Carol for Christmas Day
2020 – Son of God, Eternal Savior