The New Oxford Book of Carols

Rating:
Summary: Invaluable excursion into the contours of popular piety
Review: The New Oxford Book of Carols makes available an extraordinarily rich collection materials that bear witness to the resilience of the traditions of popular piety. These "carols", along with their editorial, historical and performance annotations, provide a rich insight to paths by which complex theological materials were filtered, tranformed and made personal expressions of great beauty and joy. Re-presents materials lost, forgotten, or discarded in a clear, simple, and readily performable format. Performance notes are specific, and clearly systematized.

Rating:
Summary: This is the most thorough carol book that I have ever read.
Review: This book should be in the household of anyone who listens to Christmas music, whether or not they can actually sing. Although I do not read music, my sister does, and we were able to learn a carol that I had heard on a Christmas CD and perform it as a duet at Midnight Mass.