Let the Bells Ring

Let the Bells Ring - Robert Buckley (b. 1946)
Four notes…that is all it is…four simple pitches. Yet the tune that is created by those four notes is memorable, nearly unending, and is now ubiquitous at Christmas. The melody has its roots in the shadowed, ancient times of the Baltic tribes. Before the Ukrainian tribe converted to Christianity in the late 10th century, the chant was part of the winter songs sung to celebrate the change in season. Gradually it became associated with Christmas and with Ukrainian culture. In the early 20th Century, Composer Mykola Leontovych arranged the chant into a four voice choral work that was taken on world tour in 1916 and became wildly popular. Following the Russian occupation of Ukraine in 1920, performance of the four-note tune was outlawed and Leontovych was murdered by a Russian agent. The words now used were penned in 1936 by American composer Peter Wilhousky.
Recorded live, in concert, on December 17, 2023

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A Favorite! Fantastic ❤