Twelve Day (Before) Christmas

Day 9 - Ding Dong Merrily on High

The origin of today's carol - Ding Dong Merrily on High - dates back over 400 years ago. The tune, Branle de L'Official, was found in the 1588 work Orchesographie, a 16th-century study of French dance forms by Thoinot Arbeau (the anagrammatic pen name of French cleric Jehan Tabourot). This study provides information on social ballroom behavior and on the interaction of musicians and dancers, while also containing numerous woodcuts of dancers and musicians, and detailed instructions for the various dances. It is considered perhaps the most valuable book on 16th century dance. Branle de L'Official was considered primarily a dance for the common people, although it did become somewhat popular among the nobility. This tune, used for Ding Dong Merrily on High, is virtually unchanged from its 1588 original. Lyrics were added to this dance tune by George Ratcliffe Woodward, and the carol was first published, with a harmonization by Charles Wood, in The Cambridge Carol-Book: Being Fifty-two Songs for Christmas, Easter, And Other Seasons (1910).

1. Ding dong merrily on high,

In heav'n the bells are ringing:

Ding dong verily the sky

Is riv'n with angel singing.

Chorus

Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

2. E'en so here below, below,

Let steeple bells be swungen,

And "Io, io, io!"

By priest and people sungen.  Chorus

3. Pray you, dutifully prime

Your matin chime, ye ringers;

May you beautifully rime

Your evetime song, ye singers.  Chorus

Ding Dong Merrily on High - The Mercer Singers

Ding Dong Merrily on High - Kings College Choir (arr. Mack Wilberg) . . . a classic

Ding Dong Merrily on High - arr. Manuel Grunden, Pop-Up Detmold / a freshly inventive modern version