If you haven't already heard about it, I thought you might be interested to know about a 11-part series of quarter-hour programmes coming up on Radio 4 F.M. Details on the web are not complete yet, but I get the impression that the series is running every week day for the 11 (or some webpages seem to suggest 10) parts


A Cause for Caroling

New series. Choral conductor Jeremy Summerly traces the origins and development of the Christmas carol tradition in Britain. In the first edition, the presenter finds out which carol practices have survived to the present day, before examining the musical and lyrical content of what he believes was the first festive song to be written in the English language.

More details can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03kpnk3

The first broadcast will be on Monday, 9th December, 1-45 p.m.


Then, on Friday, 13th December, 1-45 p.m.

The Ghosts of the West Gallery

Jeremy Summerly visits Dorchester in Dorset, where Thomas Hardy captured the carol tradition that had matured through the 17th and 18th centuries, but which faced extinction into the 19th. He also explains the origins of fuguing carols and why their days were almost numbered as well. Along with folk musician Tim Laycock, Jeremy gets to see the carol manuscripts from which Hardy's great-grandfather played and sang on Christmas night in 1800.