Deck the Halls

The melody is Welsh, dating back to the sixteenth century,[1] and belongs to a winter carol, "Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862.

They first appeared in 1862, in volume 2 of Welsh Melodies, a set of four volumes authored by John Thomas, including Welsh words by John Jones (Talhaiarn) and English words by Oliphant.

[3] A variation of the lyrics appears in the December 1877 issue of the Pennsylvania School Journal.

[5] This version, in which there is no longer any reference to drinking, runs as follows:[6] Deck the hall with boughs of holly, 'Tis the season to be jolly, Don we now our gay apparel, Troll the ancient Christmas carol,

Sing we joyous all together, Heedless of the wind and weather, An identical printing appeared four years later in The Franklin Square Song Collection.

Although some early sources state that Oliphant's words were a translation of Talhaiarn's Welsh original,[11] this is not the case in any strict or literal sense.

The first verse in Welsh, together with a literal English translation taken from Campbell's Treatise on the language, poetry, and music of the Highland Clans (1862), is given for comparison:[12] Goreu pleser ar nos galan, Tŷ a thân a theulu diddan, Calon lân a chwrw melyn, Pennill mwyn a llais y delyn, The best pleasure on new year's eve, Is house and fire and a pleasant family, A pure heart and blonde ale, A gentle song and the voice of the harp The melody of "Deck the Hall" is taken from "Nos Galan" ("New Year's Eve"), a traditional Welsh New Year's Eve carol published in 1794, although it is much older.

[1] In 1912, Ruth Herbert Lewis made a wax cylinder recording of a Welshman named Benjamin Davies singing a song, "Can y Coach faier", which uses the old melody now associated with "Deck the Halls".

The third and fourth "Fa la la" lines sung to the words "Deck the Hall" differ from those sung or played in Wales, the fourth having a more arpeggiated melody in the Welsh version and the third differing in both melody and rhythm.

He published it in British Harmony Being a Collection of Antient Welsh Airs The traditional Remains of those Originally Sung By the Bards of Wales.

In the eighteenth century the tune spread widely, with Mozart allegedly using it in his 18th violin sonata (1778)[17] and later Haydn arranged it in under the Welsh title, "Nos galan" (Hob.