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Old & New Cornish Christmas Carols 

Cornish Carols - A Tradition For The World

Redruth 

 

Nadelik Lowen 

 

The mining district around Redruth and Camborne has been singing carols to locally written tunes for over a hundred and fifty years. Many of the tunes were written by local men and T Broad wrote Hark, what music fills Creation!" which is playing in the background.  

Ralph Dunstan, wrote the following in his Cornish Song Book Vol. 2.:-

"The “Redruth-Camborne” Carol, is the true Cornish “Curl.” Its golden age of production was from about 1790 to 1850, and it is this type of Carol which was carried during that period by Cornish miners to every part of the world, and which is still sung in the “Cornish homes far away”. 

The Carol is "Hark what music" and the tune was written by T. Broad a Redruth man and is sung here by Troon Carol Choir.

1. Hark, what music fills creation,
    Circling thro' the boundless sky,
Sheperds, fill'd with consternation,
    Hear seraphic harmony.

2. See them, from the Realms of Glory,
    Shedding lustre o'er the morn;
While they chant the wondrous story
    Of the great Messiah born!

3. Go to Bethl'em: in a manger.
    There you'll see the Saviour King;
Come and praise the Heav'nly Stranger,
    Make the whole creation ring.

 

Thanks to Hymns and Carols for making the midi scores available to use.  

Federation of Old Cornwall Societies

www.oldcornwall.org

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