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Christmas Carols, bring warmth, happiness to the season. But, do you know how most of them came into being? Well that’s what The Story of Carols will help you discover, and as we learned researching these tunes, the story is rarely what you’ll expect.
Episodes
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
On the morning of January 8th, 1940 Irving Berlin, turned up at his Broadway publishing office. Without missing a beat he announced he’d written a song over the weekend. “Not only is it the best song I ever wrote,” he told Kresa. “It’s the best song anybody ever wrote.”
👍 If you enjoyed this episode check out the film versions of all our episodes at:
Listen to The Story Of Carols Playlist on Spotify From classical to classics, perennials to pop tunes, you get more than a hundred of the best Holiday tunes, and their most interesting recordings. Oh! It also includes the music from The Story Of Carols! Happy Holidays!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3tSMBpNpX9bnpQBWtoLK15?si=d43ebb02bda64d4b
Or Check Out the Jim Holthouser Holiday Playlist Listen to piano versions of all of Jim’s Holiday Songs
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QW6El8om0CMH1SU8ZHlQz?si=fa49d81d81cd4ccf
Read the rest of this entry »
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
The Nutcracker is the Olympics of ballet. Even people who actively dislike sport - watch the Olympics, and are be moved by the pageantry, dedication and physical skill. For the participants, it’s the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Exactly the same can be said for The Nutcracker.
But no one expected a children’s fairy tale to become the worlds best known ballet.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode check out the film versions of all our episodes at:
Listen to The Story Of Carols Playlist on Spotify From classical to classics, perennials to pop tunes, you get more than a hundred of the best Holiday tunes, and their most interesting recordings. Oh! It also includes the music from The Story Of Carols! Happy Holidays!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3tSMBpNpX9bnpQBWtoLK15?si=d43ebb02bda64d4b
Or Check Out the Jim Holthouser Holiday Playlist Listen to piano versions of all of Jim’s Holiday Songs
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QW6El8om0CMH1SU8ZHlQz?si=fa49d81d81cd4ccf
Read the rest of this entry »
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
We tend to think of “Good King Wenceslaus” as an Old English carol. But Wenceslaus, is an historic figure from first millennium Bohemia... what is now the Czech Republic. And he wasn’t a king - he was a Duke. His story though, has all the palace intrigue of a Shakespeare tragedy.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode check out the film versions of all our episodes at:
Listen to The Story Of Carols Playlist on Spotify From classical to classics, perennials to pop tunes, you get more than a hundred of the best Holiday tunes, and their most interesting recordings. Oh! It also includes the music from The Story Of Carols! Happy Holidays!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3tSMBpNpX9bnpQBWtoLK15?si=d43ebb02bda64d4b
Or Check Out the Jim Holthouser Holiday Playlist Listen to piano versions of all of Jim’s Holiday Songs
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QW6El8om0CMH1SU8ZHlQz?si=fa49d81d81cd4ccf
Read the rest of this entry »
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
The main motif of Carol of The Bells is only four notes, but Mykola Leontovych managed to get far more out of them than the sum of their parts. Considering the strife going on all around him, it’s amazing that he was able to write music at all.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode check out the film versions of all our episodes at:
Listen to The Story Of Carols Playlist on Spotify From classical to classics, perennials to pop tunes, you get more than a hundred of the best Holiday tunes, and their most interesting recordings. Oh! It also includes the music from The Story Of Carols! Happy Holidays!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3tSMBpNpX9bnpQBWtoLK15?si=d43ebb02bda64d4b
Or Check Out the Jim Holthouser Holiday Playlist Listen to piano versions of all of Jim’s Holiday Songs
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QW6El8om0CMH1SU8ZHlQz?si=fa49d81d81cd4ccf
Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday Dec 01, 2021
Wednesday Dec 01, 2021
1945 was one of the hottest on summers on record. And that’s when the power of positive thinking produced one of the best loved Christmas songs of all time.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode check out the film versions of all our episodes at:
Listen to The Story Of Carols Playlist on Spotify From classical to classics, perennials to pop tunes, you get more than a hundred of the best Holiday tunes, and their most interesting recordings. Oh! It also includes the music from The Story Of Carols! Happy Holidays!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3tSMBpNpX9bnpQBWtoLK15?si=d43ebb02bda64d4b
Or Check Out the Jim Holthouser Holiday Playlist Listen to piano versions of all of Jim’s Holiday Songs
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QW6El8om0CMH1SU8ZHlQz?si=fa49d81d81cd4ccf
Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday Nov 24, 2021
Wednesday Nov 24, 2021
George Gershwin never officially wrote a Christmas tune. But one of his little known, show tunes, “Snow Flakes,” is beginning to turn up as a carol in waiting.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode check out the film versions of all our episodes at:
Listen to The Story Of Carols Playlist on Spotify From classical to classics, perennials to pop tunes, you get more than a hundred of the best Holiday tunes, and their most interesting recordings. Oh! It also includes the music from The Story Of Carols! Happy Holidays!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3tSMBpNpX9bnpQBWtoLK15?si=d43ebb02bda64d4b
Or Check Out the Jim Holthouser Holiday Playlist Listen to piano versions of all of Jim’s Holiday Songs
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QW6El8om0CMH1SU8ZHlQz?si=fa49d81d81cd4ccf
Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday Nov 17, 2021
Wednesday Nov 17, 2021
We’ve all heard of having a cup of wassail at Christmas time. We’ve even heard of wassailing as an event, - a celebration of merriment, as in “here we come a wassailing.” But did you know we still go a wassailing today?
👍 If you enjoyed this episode check out the film versions of all our episodes at:
Listen to The Story Of Carols Playlist on Spotify From classical to classics, perennials to pop tunes, you get more than a hundred of the best Holiday tunes, and their most interesting recordings. Oh! It also includes the music from The Story Of Carols! Happy Holidays!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3tSMBpNpX9bnpQBWtoLK15?si=d43ebb02bda64d4b
Or Check Out the Jim Holthouser Holiday Playlist Listen to piano versions of all of Jim’s Holiday Songs
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QW6El8om0CMH1SU8ZHlQz?si=fa49d81d81cd4ccf
Read the rest of this entry »
Monday Dec 21, 2020
Monday Dec 21, 2020
The Story Of Carols - A Civil War Christmas
It’s ironic that an act as divisive as the Civil War, would unify the way Americans celebrate Christmas. But, the holiday we know today largely came into existence in and around the war.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode check out the film version at:
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Monday Dec 21, 2020
Monday Dec 21, 2020
The Story Of Carols - "Silent Night, Holy Night"
A damaged pipe organ, a part time organist, and a forgotten poem all came together to create one of the best loved carols of all time.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode check out the film version at:
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Thursday Dec 17, 2020
Thursday Dec 17, 2020
The Story Of Carols - Rise Up Shepherd and Follow
A young woman working as a secretary, helped save more than a hundred African American Spirituals , and she did it all in the south, during the Civil War.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode check out the film version at:
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