"The Sinner's Redemption", also known as "All You That are to Mirth Inclined" is an English
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...
originating in the 1600s.
The carol is about the
Nativity of Jesus
The nativity of Jesus, nativity of Christ, birth of Jesus or birth of Christ is described in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Luke, Luke and Gospel of Matthew, Matthew. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judaea (Roman ...
. It is not known when "The Sinner's Redemption" was first created, though it was mentioned as having been sung in the 1630s in a broadside newspaper and was regularly reprinted by them.
Background
Professor Peter Davidson of
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
claimed that the carol was written by Anna Alcox in the 1650s, but her name was not attributed to it as she was from a family of Catholic
recusant
Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation.
The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...
s; she was also six years old at the time of writing and was under the age of legal responsibility.
The oldest written copy of the carol was found in 1709 under the title "The Sinner's Redemption, The Nativity of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ, With His Life on Earth, and Precious Death on the Cross", in an undated collection by
Thomas Deloney
Thomas Deloney (born ; died in or shortly before 1600) was an English silk-weaver, novelist, and ballad writer.
Biography
Thomas Deloney was born sometime in the middle decades of the 16th century; the precise date is not recorded. Although ofte ...
.
In 1861, in his "''A Garland of Christmas Carols''",
John Camden Hotten
John Camden Hotten (12 September 1832, Clerkenwell – 14 June 1873, Hampstead) was an English bibliophile and publisher. He is best known for his clandestine publishing of numerous erotic and pornographic titles.
Life
Hotten was born John Wi ...
called it "this rude old carol" and stated it was a favourite of the peasantry.
He also noted the regular reprints by broadsides.
Contents
The 1709 copy of the carol has 28 verses, but the last 12 would often be omitted.
The word "
mirth" used in the carol was intended to represent Christian religious joy in celebrating the birth of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
rather than "boisterous merriment".
"The Sinner's Redemption" was also viewed to have inspired the Irish "
Wexford Carol
The Wexford Carol ( ga, Carúl Loch Garman, Carúl Inis Córthaidh) is a traditional religious Irish Christmas carol originating from County Wexford and, specifically, Enniscorthy (whence its other name). The subject of the song is the nativity o ...
", as five of the six verses of the latter carol were based on "The Sinner's Redemption". The carol was later adapted for formal congregational singing by
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
in the ''
Oxford Book of Carols
''The Oxford Book of Carols'' is a collection of vocal scores of Christmas carols and carols of other seasons. It was first published in 1928 by Oxford University Press and was edited by Percy Dearmer, Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams. I ...
''.
References
External links
*
Christmas carols
Year of song unknown
Songwriter unknown
17th-century songs
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