Shchedryk: The Ukrainian Song Behind Carol of the Bells

*Carol of the Bells* draws its music from *Shchedryk*, Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych’s choral arrangement of a Ukrainian folk song. Its familiar English lyrics came later, from Peter Wilhousky in 1936. Between those two chapters lies the story of a travelling Ukrainian choir, a campaign for international recognition, and an Atlantic crossing preserved in archival postcards and newspapers.

A Ukrainian choir with a diplomatic mission

Before *Shchedryk* became associated with English-language Christmas celebrations, it belonged to the repertoire of an ensemble carrying Ukrainian music abroad. Ukraine’s struggle for independence gave that journey a purpose beyond the concert platform.

As Carnegie Hall’s historical account explains, Ukrainian leader Symon Petliura saw culture as a means of gaining recognition for a country whose sovereignty Soviet Russia refused to accept. He appointed conductor Oleksandr Koshyts to lead a choir that would travel first through Europe and then to the Americas.

Leontovych’s arrangement of *Shchedryk* was among its selections. The choir gave more than 200 performances across Europe, appearing before political, academic, and religious figures as well as public audiences. Its tour generated more than 500 reviews in 10 languages. These were concerts, but they were also opportunities to present Ukraine as a country with its own history and cultural traditions. Carnegie Hall places that cultural diplomacy at the centre of the song’s international journey.

An Atlantic crossing and a Carnegie Hall premiere

The American chapter has a particularly tangible surviving record. On September 15, 1922, members of the recently restructured Ukrainian National Chorus boarded the Cunard liner RMS Caronia in Hamburg. They reached New York on September 26.

A souvenir postcard in the archival collection of chorus member Nicholas Kostetsky records the journey in both English and Ukrainian. Its inscription gives the route and dates: Hamburg to New York, September 15-26, 1922. The chorus’s impresario, Max Rabinoff, promptly secured newspaper coverage of their arrival.

On October 5, 1922, the ensemble performed at Carnegie Hall, giving *Shchedryk* its US premiere. The concert contained 35 selections, with Leontovych’s arrangement in the first half. New York reviewers praised the choir’s technical skill and expressive singing, although Carnegie Hall notes that their reviews did not single out *Shchedryk*.

The Ukrainian History and Education Center’s exhibition brings together the voyage postcard and contemporary newspaper coverage, connecting the famous performance to the people who made the crossing.

Beyond New York: the chorus in the Americas

Carnegie Hall was a milestone, not the end of the journey. After another New York concert, at the Hippodrome on October 15, the chorus began its United States tour. During 1922-1924, it performed across the United States and Canada, as well as in Mexico and Argentina.

The surviving records show the variety of settings in which these Ukrainian singers appeared. In Mexico City, they gave several packed performances at the main arena. Newspaper clippings document a visit to Kansas City, Kansas, in January 1923.

A programme from Buenos Aires records a different occasion: memorial exercises for the late US president Warren G. Harding, organised by American expatriates in 1923. The chorus sang the American hymn “Lead Kindly Light” alongside works from its own repertoire.

These documents help restore the wider touring story. The ensemble that introduced *Shchedryk* to American listeners continued working across national borders, with programmes that could respond to very different audiences and occasions.

Peter Wilhousky’s new English words

In 1936, choral director and New York public school administrator Peter Wilhousky gave the music new English lyrics and the title *Carol of the Bells*. The English text was a later creation, not the Ukrainian words carried over unchanged.

The Ukrainian History and Education Center identifies Wilhousky as New Jersey-born, from a Rusyn family originally from the Prešov region of Slovakia. It places him among listeners at the chorus’s early New York concerts. Carnegie Hall is more cautious about the specific premiere, describing his attendance that night as a legend rather than a certainty.

Why bells? The sources connect the choice to the music’s bell-like effect, but the Center also offers another possibility: an association with a different carol in which singers imitate church bells. A single definitive explanation is therefore best avoided.

Carnegie Hall records that Wilhousky added his version to his school choir’s repertoire in 1936 and published it with Carl Fischer Music. His work as a choral teacher, director, and arranger helped bring the English text to wider audiences.

Remembering the people behind the familiar title

The chorus made a final US and Canadian tour in 1926-1927 before effectively disbanding. Koshyts settled in New York and later spent summers in Winnipeg, where he died in 1944. His archival materials are held at Winnipeg’s Oseredok.

Keeping the credits distinct honours this history: a Ukrainian folk song, Leontovych’s choral arrangement, Koshyts and the touring singers, and Wilhousky’s later English lyrics. The Christmas favourite and its Ukrainian source belong to a connected story, but their titles and texts are not interchangeable.

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