(Traditional English)
This Christmas carol’s origins are unknown but it is listed as traditionally English and is included on the Roud Folk Song Index as No. 514. The carol is known to have existed from the 19th century, with several areas having their own melody, although the subject of the lyrics point to having possibly been written and/or sung in much earlier times, with even Pagan origins from more than 1000 years ago, when the symbolism of holly and ivy was first associated with Christmas.
The words have been found in broadsides published in Birmingham that date from 1814 to 1818 and the title of the carol appeared a few years later in Ancient Mysteries Described by William Hones. In A Garland of Christmas Carols published by Sylvester in 1861 the broadside in Birmingham was mentioned but claimed to have come from an even older broadside dating back a further hundred years to somewhere around 1711. That claim was also made by Husk in Songs of the Nativity published in 1864 and again in Chambers and Sidgwick’s Early English Lyrics published in 1907. Sometimes the text was set to music that was from an “old French carol” in collections from the later half the 19th century.
The carol that most people know now was collected in 1909 by Cecil Sharp, who was a collector of folk songs and he received this version from Mary Clayton who lived in Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire, England who he had heard singing it. This is the version that is now established and popularly sung. It was published in Cecil Sharp’s English Folk-Carols in 1911.
Many singers and groups perform this carol every Christmas and numerous recordings have been made by artists, ensembles and orchestras that include Jon Anderson, Frankie Avalon, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Anonymous 4, Bach Choir, the Cambridge Singers, Canadian Brass, City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Clare College Choir, Natalie Cole, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Delmoni, Empire Brass, Gloriae Dei Cantores, Huddersfield Choral Society, Aled Jones, Kiri te Kanawa, King’s College Choir Cambridge, Annie Lennox, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Mantovani, Mediaeval Baebes, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, St. John’s College Choir, St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir, the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, The Sixteen, Joan Sutherland, Dale Warland Singers, Westminster Cathedral Choir along with many others.
Kiri te Kanawa recordings
The Holly and the Ivy (Traditional English)
TELDEC 99000 (CD: Christmas with Kiri te Kanawa)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Choir of Lichfield Cathedral
The Choir of Coventry Cathedral
Conductor – Robin Stapleton
Soprano – Kiri te Kanawa
Baritone – Michael George
Dale Warland Singers recordings
Three Nativity Carols: The Holly and the Ivy, This Endris Night, Wonder Tidings
Gothic 49208 (CD: Christmas with the Dale Warland Singers)
Arranger – Stephen Paulus
Conductor – Dale Warland
Oboe – Kathleen Robinson
Harp – Kathy Kienzie
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holly_and_the_Ivy
- https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/holly_and_the_ivy.htm
- https://imslp.org/wiki/English_Folk-Carols_(Sharp,_Cecil)
- https://www.chippingcampdenhistory.org.uk/content/archives/from-the-archives/the-holly-and-the-ivy
- https://www.vwml.org/record/CJS1/10/2/432/1
- https://www.vwml.org/record/CJS2/10/2068
- https://www.carols.org.uk/the_holly_and_the_ivy.htm
- https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/christmas-tabernacle-choir/the-concert2022/the-holly-and-the-ivy/
- https://www.allmusic.com/composition/the-holly-and-the-ivy-english-mc0002372077
- https://www.discogs.com/search?q=The+Holly+and+the+Ivy&type=all