“One Christmas Eve”, and orignal song written by Stephen Banville based on the original composition by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1914, the song is based on the Ukrainian folk chant “Shchedryk”.
The original folk story related in the song was associated with the coming New Year, which, in pre-Christian Ukraine, was celebrated with the coming of spring in April. The original Ukrainian title translates to “the generous one” and tells a tale of a swallow flying into a household to proclaim the bountiful year that the family will have.
When American choir director and arranger Peter Wilhousky heard Leontovich’s choral work, it reminded him of bells; so he wrote new lyrics to convey that imagery for his choir. He copyrighted the new lyrics in 1936 and also published the song, despite the fact that the work was published almost two decades earlier in Soviet Ukraine. In the late 1930s, several choirs that Wilhousky directed began performing his Anglicized arrangement during the Christmas holiday season.
Now called “Carol of the Bells,” the song has become associated with Christmas because of its new lyrics, which include references to silver bells, caroling and the line “merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas.”
As this song has been one of Stephen’s favorite Christmas Carols since he was a child, he decided to write an instrumental version of the original composition with a classical Baroque feel, so Stephen reached out to Rita Torrens, a solo violinist from eastern Europe, who composed this beautiful and haunting string arrangement to this holiday classic that we hope you all enjoy.
All Guitars: Stephen Banville
Fretless Bass: Dino Monoxelos
Piano: Brian Maes
All Strings: Rita Torrens