Who composed the Ukrainian folk-inspired "Carol of the Bells"?

Mykola Leontovych composed the music for the Ukrainian folk-inspired song that became “Carol of the Bells.”

The melody originated as “Shchedryk,” a Ukrainian New Year’s song associated with wishes for abundance and prosperity. Leontovych developed the choral setting from a traditional Ukrainian motif, working on versions of it during the early twentieth century. The original piece was intended for unaccompanied mixed choir.

“Shchedryk” was first performed in Ukraine in December 1916 and reached Western audiences through the Ukrainian Republic Capella’s international tours after World War I. Its American premiere took place at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1922.

The familiar English Christmas text came later. Peter J. Wilhousky wrote new lyrics in 1936 after hearing the melody and imagining the sound of ringing handbells. Those lyrics transformed a Ukrainian New Year song into a Christmas standard, but Wilhousky was not the composer of the underlying music.