Traditional French Carol

Biography

The tune NOEL NOUVELET is a traditional French carol melody, often described as medieval or fifteenth-century in origin, though the details of its earliest form are not firmly documented. It was historically associated with a French Christmas carol and later adapted for English-language hymn singing. Martin Shaw harmonized the melody for John Macleod Campbell Crum’s Easter text in “The Oxford Book of Carols” in 1928.