Carol (music)

A carol is a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with Christian church worship, and sometimes accompanied by a dance.

[2] Sacred music was traditionally sung in Latin by clergy or appointed cantors of the Catholic church.

Martin Luther, the father of Lutheran Christianity, encouraged congregational singing during the Mass, in addition to spreading the practice of caroling outside the liturgy.

[4] In modern times, songs that may once have been regarded as carols are now no longer classified as such (especially Christmas songs), even those that retain the traditional attributes of a carol – celebrating a seasonal topic, alternating verses and chorus, and danceable music.

Some writers of carols, such as George Ratcliffe Woodward who wrote "Ding Dong Merrily on High" and William Morris who wrote "Masters in This Hall", reverted to a quasi-mediaeval style; this became a feature of the early twentieth-century revival in Christmas Carols.