DING DONG! MERRILY ON HIGH

French Carol
Arrangement: Ryan Murphy

“Ding Dong! Merrily on High” is a melody drawn from Johan Tabourot’s 1588 dance manual Orchésographie, where  it functioned as an example of the “branle,” a lively commoner’s dance. Compared to those renaissance-era beginnings, the Christmas lyrics (by George Woodward) and the four-part harmonization of “Ding Dong! Merrily on High” (by Charles Wood) are relatively modern, first published in the 1924 Cambridge Carol-Book. 

This orchestral arrangement of “Ding Dong! Merrily on High” was written especially for this concert by the Choir’s Associate Director, Ryan Murphy.