Deus Metallicus - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

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The first track from the Deus Metallicus Christmas album Incarnate, coming this Christmas!

About the Hymn:

An early version of this carol is found in an anonymous manuscript, dating from the 1650s. It contains a slightly different version of the first line from that found in later texts, with the first line "Sit yo merry gentlemen".

The earliest known printed edition of the carol is in a broadsheet dated to c. 1760. A precisely datable reference to the carol is found in the November 1764 edition of the Monthly Review. Some sources claim that the carol dates as far back as the 16th century.

Although there is a second tune known as 'Cornish', in print by 1833 and referred to as "the usual version" in the 1928 Oxford Book of Carols, this version is seldom heard today.

The better-known traditional English melody is in the minor mode; the earliest printed edition of the melody appears to be in a rondo arrangement for fortepiano by Samuel Wesley, which was already reviewed in 1815.

Soon after, it appeared in a parody published in 1820 by William Hone.It had been associated with the carol since at least the mid-18th century, when it was recorded by James Nares in a hand-written manuscript under the title "The old Christmas Carol".

Hone's version of the tune differs from the present melody in the third line.

The full current melody was published by Chappell in 1855.

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