The Carols of Christmas: A Celebration of the Surprising
Stories Behind Your Favorite Holiday Songs by
Andrew Gant is a fact-filled, historical account of today’s favorite carols.
Gant skillfully reveals the
evolution of 21 of today’s popularly sung Christmas carols. He informs readers
of the origins of the songs, the writers, the journeys, the musical changes,
and more of the songs, and each chapter (a chapter being the story of one song)
ends with a score of the carol.
The idea of this book was interesting
to me, but the chapters themselves didn’t keep my interest—not because they
weren’t brimming with information and history—but precisely because they were.
I was looking for a less-intense, simpler history of my favorite carols. What
Gant provides is a heavily researched, articulate, technical, and thorough account
of each carol’s journey. As I read the book, on more than one occasion names of
friends who would enjoy this book came to mind (intellectuals, choral
directors, scholars, etc.). For the average person looking for a quick and easy
informative read, I don’t recommend this book: I recommend it to music scholars
and historians.
The
publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book through
BookSneeze®. I was not required to write a positive review.
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