Shchedryk/Carol of the Bells: A Holiday Greeting

Carol of the Bells is one of the world's most recognized and beloved Christmas melodies. Yet many people still don't know the song originated in Ukraine.

First performed in the United States in Carnegie Hall on 5 October 1922 as Shchedryk, a song about a little bird, the melody was arranged by the Ukrainian composer and music teacher Mykola Leontovych in the 1900s. It was popularized in 1936 by Peter J. Wilhousky, a Ukrainian American choral director and music director for New York City Public Schools, who wrote new English language lyrics and gave it the name Carol of the Bells. In December 2022, the song was presented at Carnegie Hall in honor of the 100-year anniversary of its performance in the storied hall.

Together with the Ukrainian Institute, the Ukraїner publishing house tells the untold story of Shchedryk, its cultural mission, and its unique contribution to Ukraine's diplomatic efforts in the 1920s in an engaging video.

Andrew Novitskyi recounts in the Kyiv Post the song's origins and its connection to the Eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, which Russians are currently trying to capture in their genocidal war against Ukraine.

Enjoy the many renditions of Shchedryk/Carol of the Bells this holiday season. In Ukrainian, we propose two: by the Academic Choir of the National Radio of Ukraine and by Ukrainian-Jewish singer Tina Karol, who performed the song in Kyiv's famed St. Sophia Cathedral as a backdrop. In English, the Singing Sergeants of the United States Air Forces Band in Washington, DC have performed the song, as have Destiny's Child and The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford. American violinist and singer Lindsey Stirling has created a stirring version of the melody on violin.

During this holiday season, we wish our readers peace. And that a fair and just peace will soon come to Ukraine and Israel.

We return to this space on 15 January 2025.