Happy New Year: Shchedryk

Welcome to 2009. I hope everyone is recovering from last night. Here is a little New Year's trivia for you. The familiar Carol of the Bells is actually a Ukrainian New Year's carol in the original language.

I found this description of the song's history:

The melody was created in 1916 by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych (1877-1921) and titled "Shchedryk". Based on an old Ukrainian folk song, the original lyrics describes the swallow flying into a household to proclaim the plentiful year that the family will have. The song's title is derived from the Ukrainian word "shchedryi" which means "bountiful." The swallow is a herald of spring coming, possibly of pre-Christian origins. The folk melody was sung in many Ukrainian villages on Jan. 13 – New Year's Eve on the Julian calendar – usually by adolescent girls going house to house in celebration of the new year.

The choral work Shchedryk was first performed by students at Kiev University in December 1916. When American choir director and arranger Peter Wilhousky (1902-1978) heard Leontovich's choral work, it reminded him of bells; so he wrote new lyrics to convey that imagery for his choir. He published the new lyrics in 1936. Of Czech background, Wilhousky grew up singing in Russian-American choirs and made many translations and arrangements of Slavic music. The title chosen by him "Carol of the Bells" was harmonious with the old Slavic legend that at midnight the evening Jesus was born all the bells on earth started to sound of their own accord in his honor. Since then the song has become a popular Christmas tune especially in the US and Canada where it is also known as "Ukrainian Carol".

http://www.ffn.ub.es/~oleg/schedryk/shchedryk.html

Here is how it sounds in Ukrainian:



Here are the lyrics in Ukrainian:

Щедрик
Обработка М. Леонтовича

Щедрик щедрик, щедрiвочка,
прилетiла ластiвочка,
стала собi щебетати,
господаря викликати:
"Вийди, вийди, господарю,
подивися на кошару, -
там овечки покотились,
а ягнички народились.
В тебе товар весь хороший,
будешь мати мiрку грошей,
хоч не гроши, то полова,
В тебе жiнка чорноброва."
Щедрик щедрик, щедрiвочка,
прилетiла ластiвочка.

For those of you who are not fluent in Ukrainian, here is how they translate into English:

1st choir:
Shchedrik, shchedrik, shchedrivochka
A swallow flew in
And started to sing
Calling out the head of the house
Come out, come out, head of the house
Come look on your homestead
Over there the ewes have rolled
And the lambs are newly born.

2nd choir:
Your animals are all well-fed
You will receive much money.
Your wife is good-looking
If you get no money then you'll have chaff
But your wife is good-looking.

1st choir:
Shchedrik, shchedrik, shchedrivochka
A swallow fley in
And started to sing
Calling out the head of the house
Come look on your homestead
Over there the ewes have rolled
And the lambs are newly born.

2nd choir:
Your animals are well fed
You will receive much money.
Your wife is good-looking
If you get no money then you'll have chaff
Your wife is good-looking.
Shchedrik, shchedryk, shchedrivochka
In flew a swallow.

I bet you didn't know that the Carol of the Bells is really about a swallow flying in to say that your wife is good looking!

Another interesting fact is that in Ukraine, New Years is celebrated much like we celebrate Christmas. There are parties and they sing songs and decorate the new year's tree.

Best wishes to everyone for 2009, especially our friends in Ukraine.