Merry Christmas With Carol Of The Bells

Nicholas C. Rossis

For this year’s Christmas wishes, I will start with a lovely rendition of one of my favorite carols, Carol of the Bells, sung here by Voices of Lee:

The carol itself piqued my curiosity when I read a two-line description of its origins. According to this, it was composed in 1904 by a Ukranian composer called Mykola Leontovich, who based it on a traditional Ukranian folk song. Leontovich raised awareness of the Ukranian struggle for independence from Soviet Russia by touring the West, playing (among other songs) Carol of the Bells. As a result, he was murdered in 1921 by a Soviet agent.

At a time when Ukraine is once again in the news for its struggle for independence from Russia, this moved me enough to research some more. I am sharing here this haunting son’s amazing history based on information I found on Rice University and Wikipedia.