Title: Christmas song (Jingle bells)

Arranger:Tong Leung-tak

Year: November 23, 1978

Genre:

• Large ensemble
• Arrangement
• Chinese orchestral music

Call No.: SC316

Description: Tong Leung-tak's 1978 arrangement of "Jingle Bells" is simply titled "Christmas Song" in Chinese, arguably because of its remarkably strong association with Christmas in Hong Kong. "Jingle Bells" was first published in 1857 under the name of American composer and lyricist James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893), even though the exact origin of its tune is debated in scholarship. It was intended not as a Christmas song, but most likely for Sunday service to be sung by a choir; its use for Christmas, however, began as early as in the 1860s. While it is common practice in the Anglophone world to begin the song with the verse ("dashing through the snow") and follow that with the chorus ("jingle bells"), Tong's arrangement begins (and ends) with the chorus, whose melody is more readily recognizable to people in Hong Kong. His score makes full use of the modern Chinese orchestra and enlists instruments such as the haidi (a high-pitched suona, which doubles the erhu part in the score), the glockenspiel, the tambourine, the dagu (Chinese big drum), and the double bass.

Note:

• Arrangement of "Jingle bells"

Instrumentation: bang di (1), qu di (1), xiao (1), sheng (1), haidi (1), yangqin (1), liuqin (1), pipa (1), zhong ruan (1), da ruan (1), sanxian (1), zheng (1), tambourine/triangle (1), da gu (1), glockenspiel (1), gaohu (1), erhu (1), zhonghu (1), cello (1), double bass (1)