Deck the Halls

T

he melody of "Deck the Hall" is taken from "Nos Galan" ("New Year's Eve"), a traditional Welsh New Year's Eve carol published in 1794, although it is much older.[1] In 1912, Ruth Herbert Lewis made a wax cylinder recording of a Welshman named Benjamin Davies singing a song, "Can y Coach faier", which uses the old melody now associated with "Deck the Halls". The recording can be heard on the British Library Sound Archive website.[11]

The music is in AABA form.[12]

Variants The Pennsylvania version from 1877 omits the third "Fa la la" line (which corresponds to the instrumental flourish in the Welsh original).

The third and fourth "Fa la la" lines sung to the words "Deck the Hall" differ from those sung or played in Wales, the fourth having a more arpeggiated melody in the Welsh version and the third differing in both melody and rhythm.

History The tune is that of an old Welsh air, first found in a musical manuscript by Welsh harpist John Parry dating back to the 1700s[citation needed]. Poet John Ceiriog Hughes later wrote his own lyrics. A middle verse was later added by folk singers. In the eighteenth century the tune spread widely, with Mozart allegedly using it in his 18th violin sonata (1778)[13] and later Haydn arranged it in under the Welsh title, "Nos galan" (Hob. XXXIb:29, 1803).