The Sheffield Book of Village Carols

This collection makes available music that has previously been locked away in private family manuscripts, thereby opening up a door to a whole new dimension of sound. The performance of these carols to the grandeur of a full instrumental accompaniment has been a feature of the Festival of Village Carols since 1994. This music provides the means to create such performances _ set in full score with most carols in four voice parts, three string parts, and a keyboard reduction. Moreover, the parts have been transposed to fall within the range of normal voices. It should be stressed that performance is also successful with keyboard accompaniment or sung a cappella. The volume comes with a scholarly introduction that effectively explains the history and social context of the carolling tradition and its repertoire, the manuscript sources and editorial method, and offers guidance to performance. From a glance at the detailed notes to the carols, the reader will quickly be aware that the origins and development of this repertoire of highly localised provenance are complex with local, regional, national and international roots.