The First Noel

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This arrangement of 'The First Noel' is for grade 1 piano. It opens with the two hands playing the melody in a bold octave statement.

'The First Nowell' ('The First Noel') is a traditional English Christmas carol, most likely from the 16th or 17th century, but possibly dating from as early as the 13th century. In its current form it is of Cornish origin, and it was first published in Some Ancient Christmas Carols and Gilbert and Sandys Christmas Carols, edited by William B. Sandys and arranged, edited and extra lyrics written by Davies Gilbert. The melody is unusual among English folk melodies in that it consists of one musical phrase repeated twice, followed by a minor variation on that phrase. All three phrases end on the third of the scale. It is thought to be a corruption of an earlier melody sung in a church gallery setting; a conjectural reconstruction of the earlier version can be found in the New Oxford Book of Carols.

An orchestral arrangement, by Victor Hely-Hutchinson from his Carol Symphony, was memorably used as the theme to the BBC adaptation of John Masefield's seasonal fantasy adventure, The Box of Delights.

The word Nowell comes from the French word Noël meaning 'Christmas', from the Latin word natalis. It may also be from the Gaulish words 'noio' or 'neu' meaning 'new' and 'helle' meaning 'light' referring to the winter solstice when sunlight begins overtaking darkness.

The above text is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The First Nowell".

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