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''God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen'' is an English traditional Christmas carol. It is in the Roxburghe Collection (iii. 452), and is listed as no. 394 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It is also known as ''Tidings of Comfort and Joy'', and by variant incipits, as ''Come All You Worthy Gentlemen''〔''Come All You Worthy Gentlemen'', For Christmas, Also known as ''The Somerset Carol'', Title: "A Christmas Carol" Words and Music: English Traditional from Mr. Rapsey, of Bridgwater, Somerset. Cecil J. Sharp, ed., Folk Songs From Somerset. Series V. Second Edition. (London: Simpkin & Co., Ltd., 1909), #CXXVI, A Christmas Carol, pp. 68-69. "Come all you worthy gentlemen / That may be standing by. / Christ our blessed Saviour / Was born on Christmas day. / The blessed virgin Mary / Unto the Lord did say, ''O we wish you the comfort and tidings of joy!''" "Words and air from Mr. Rapsey, of Bridgwater. Mr. Rapsey told me that he learned this carol from his mother, and that when he was a lad. he used to go round Bridgwater in company with other boys at Christmas time singing it. It is, apparently, a shortened version of the well known carol 'God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen' () Mr. Rapsey's words were not very clear and I was compelled to amend them in one or two places, but they appear in the text substantially as he sang them. The word 'say' in the penultimate lines of the first two verses I was at first inclined to regard as a corruption for 'pray,' which is the usual reading. But the Rev. Allen Brockington thought that 'say' was merely used intransitively, as is not unusual in Somerset, for 'talk,' i.e. 'prattle.' As this is at least a possible explanation I have retained the word that Mr. Rapsay sang." (Notes on the Songs, p. 91.)〕 ''God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen'', ''God Rest Ye, Merry Christians''〔"God Rest Ye, Merry Christians" in Mildred Gauntlett, ''Fifty Christmas Carols'' (London, 1906), (p. 39 ) The use of ''ye'' may go back to alternative words written by Dinah Craik (1826 - 1887) given in Charles Lewis Hutchins, ''Carols Old and Carols New'' (Boston: Parish Choir, 1916) with the title ''God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen''. This particular version has the incipit ''God rest you merry, gentlemen'', but verses 2 and 3 begin ''God rest ye little children'' and ''God rest ye all good Christians'', respectively. 〕 or ''God Rest You Merry People All''.〔apparently designed as gender neutral variant, recorded since the 1980s; mentioned in the ''Prince Alfred College Chronicle'' of 1980, (p. 7 ).〕 It is one of the oldest extant carols, dated to the 16th century or earlier.〔Barrie Jones (ed.), ''The Hutchinson Concise Dictionary of Music'', Routledge, 2014, s.v. "carol", "Christmas carols were common as early as the 15th century. () Many carols, such as 'God Rest You Merry Gentlemen' and 'The First Noel', date from the 16th century or earlier."〕 The earliest known printed edition of the carol is in a broadsheet dated to c. 1760.〔''Three new Christmas carols'', (), (). Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale.〕 The traditional English melody is in the minor mode; the earliest printed edition of the melody appears to be in a parody, in the 1829 ''Facetiae'' of William Hone. It had been traditional and associated with the carol since at least the mid-18th century, when it was recorded by James Nares under the title "The old Christmas Carol".〔William Chappell, ''Popular Music of the Olden Time'' vol. 2, 1859, (p. 752 ) ((hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com )). ( Hone's version ) goes :"God rest you, merry gentlemen, / Let nothing you dismay; Remember we were left alive / Upon last Christmas Day, / With both our lips at liberty, / To praise Lord C()h / For his ‘practical’ comfort and joy". Chappell states the earliest record of the words is in a manuscript by James Nares, entitled "The old Christmas Carol". In the Halliwell Collection of Broadsides, No. 263 (1750? ), Chetham Library, a song "The overthrow of proud Holofernes, and the Triumph of virtuous Queen Judith" is accompanied by the instruction that it is to be sung "to the tune of Tidings of comfort and joy.", indicating that ''Tidings of comfort and joy'' was well-known at the time and the primary lyrics associated with the tune. For the traditional English melody, see also David Holbrook and Elizabeth Poston (eds.), ''The Cambridge Hymnal'' (1967), pp. 236-37.〕 The carol is referred to in Charles Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol'', 1843: "...at the first sound of 'God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!', Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost." This carol also is featured in the second movement of the 1927 ''Carol Symphony'' by Victor Hely-Hutchinson. ==Lyrics== The first recorded version is from ''Three New Christmas Carols,'' Printed and Sold at the Printing-Office on Bow Church-Yard, London, dated ca 1760. Its first verse reads: :God rest you merry, Gentlemen, :Let nothing you dismay, :For Jesus Christ our Savior :Was born upon this Day. :To save poor souls from Satan's power, :Which long time had gone astray. :Which brings tidings of comfort and joy.〔''Three new carols for Christmas,'' printed by J. Smart (ca. 1780–1800) has the first verse: :God rest you merry Gentlemen, 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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