The History of Ding Dong! Merrily on High
Ding Dong! Merrily on High is one of the happiest and most spirited Christmas songs, and like many of the traditional carols that are sung today, it was written hundreds of years ago. The earliest record we have of the song is from 1588, making it at least 428 years old. However, the piece originally had nothing to do with Christmas - it was a standard tune used for French dances. The melody is written (sideways! - see the image below) on page 92 of a book called Orchesographie by Thoinot Arbeau, which was the pen name of Jehan Tabourot (1519-1595). His choice of pen name was particularly interesting because it is an anagram of his real name (the same letters were placed in a different order). A facsimile of Orchesographie can be viewed on the Library of Congress website. Orchesographie is a very important historical document that provides us with many of the popular melodies of the French Renaissance, and it gives i...