# Shchedryk (song)
**Shchedryk** (Щедрик) is a Ukrainian New Year ritual song, a *shchedrivka* arranged for mixed a cappella choir by the composer [Mykola Leontovych](https://www.edgepedia.org/mykola-leontovych), whose four-note ostinato melody became known worldwide as the [Christmas carol](https://www.edgepedia.org/christmas-carol) "Carol of the Bells". The original Ukrainian text is not about bells or Christmas at all: it is a well-wishing song in which a swallow flies into a household and proclaims the plentiful year the family will have, a theme tied to the pre-Christian custom of celebrating the new year in spring, when the swallows returned.[1](https://news.rice.edu/news/2004/carol-bells-wasnt-originally-christmas-song) • [2](https://www.ukrainer.net/en/en-shchedryk-carol-of-the-bells-history/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original genre | A *shchedrivka*, a ritual well-wishing song sung on New Year's Eve (Generous Evening, 13 January in the Julian calendar), with pre-Christian roots[1](https://news.rice.edu/news/2004/carol-bells-wasnt-originally-christmas-song) • [3](https://www.ukrainianlessons.com/carol-of-the-bells/) |
| Arrangement | Choral setting for mixed a cappella choir by Mykola Leontovych (1877–1921), reworked over roughly 20 years in five editions[4](https://ukrainianlive.org/leontovych-mykola) |
| First performance | 25 December 1916 (old style), a carol concert by the choir of Kyiv University conducted by Oleksandr Koshyts[5](https://www.pisni.org.ua/files/099/024508_i_v_vas_i_v_nas.pdf) |
| North American premiere | Carnegie Hall, New York, 5 October 1921 or 1922 (sources differ), during the Ukrainian Republican Capella's tour[6](https://kpi.ua/en/shchedryk) • [7](https://ui.org.ua/en/news-en/the-notes-of-shchedryk-are-now-displayed-on-one-of-the-walls-of-new-yorks-carnegie-hall/) |
| English version | New English lyrics by Peter Wilhousky, published by Carl Fischer in 1936 as "Carol of the Bells"[8](https://vue.gov.ua/%D0%A9%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA) |
| Reach | More than 150 re-arrangements for different vocal and instrumental combinations; used in films including *Home Alone* and the *Harry Potter* series[9](https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CL%5CE%5CLeontovychMykola.htm) • [10](https://platform.man.gov.ua/media/656f6fae-0408-4260-b0a7-4eaee8e212a4) |
## The folk song and Leontovych's arrangement
The melody Leontovych used is a simple one-voice folk tune of the kind sung door to door during the winter ritual season. For his text he took a Volyn variant of "Shchedryk" that folklorists had recorded in the town of Krasnopyl in Polissia and published in a collection of Ukrainian songs; the song also circulated in Podillia, the composer's home region, where he may have sung it himself as a child.[2](https://www.ukrainer.net/en/en-shchedryk-carol-of-the-bells-history/) The title comes from the word *shchedryi*, "generous", which also carries the sense of fruitful and life-giving.[11](https://www.ukrainer.net/shchedryk/)
**A twenty-year miniature.** Leontovych began work on the song around 1901–1902 and kept revising it until 1919, producing five editions; on the advice of the theorist Boleslav Yavorsky he built the piece on an ostinato, the insistent repetition of the opening four-note motif, which is the feature every later version of "Carol of the Bells" inherits.[4](https://ukrainianlive.org/leontovych-mykola) • [2](https://www.ukrainer.net/en/en-shchedryk-carol-of-the-bells-history/) In August 1916 he sent the manuscript to the Kyiv conductor Oleksandr Koshyts, and the premiere followed that December at a carol concert given by the choir of Kyiv University.[2](https://www.ukrainer.net/en/en-shchedryk-carol-of-the-bells-history/) • [5](https://www.pisni.org.ua/files/099/024508_i_v_vas_i_v_nas.pdf) The performance was a sensation and made Leontovych's name in Kyiv.[6](https://kpi.ua/en/shchedryk)
## The world tours
In 1919 the government of the restored Ukrainian republic approved the creation of the Ukrainian Republican Capella, a choir of about eighty singers, and sent it on tour to promote Ukrainian culture and statehood abroad.[12](https://spadok.org.ua/narodni-zvychayi-i-obryady/istoriya-ukrayinskogo-shchedryka) • [13](https://time.com/6548868/christmas-songs-origins/) Under Koshyts the Capella sang "Shchedryk" across Europe between 1919 and 1921, in [Czechoslovakia](https://www.edgepedia.org/czechoslovakia), Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and other countries, and audiences in eighteen countries heard the piece in Leontovych's arrangement during 1919–1924.[7](https://ui.org.ua/en/news-en/the-notes-of-shchedryk-are-now-displayed-on-one-of-the-walls-of-new-yorks-carnegie-hall/) • [14](https://arts.gov.ua/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/zvit-pro-robotu-derzhmystecztv-u-2021.pdf)
The North American premiere at [Carnegie Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/carnegie-hall) is dated 5 October 1921 in some accounts and 5 October 1922 in others, including the Ukrainian Institute and Carnegie Hall centenary materials; the discrepancy is noted explicitly in recent source-based reporting on the song.[6](https://kpi.ua/en/shchedryk) • [7](https://ui.org.ua/en/news-en/the-notes-of-shchedryk-are-now-displayed-on-one-of-the-walls-of-new-yorks-carnegie-hall/) • [15](https://ukrainavi.com/en/shchedryk-carol-of-the-bells/) [In New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/in-new-york) the choir recorded the piece, with about twenty selected singers, and this 1922 recording is the first documented capture of the work.[11](https://www.ukrainer.net/shchedryk/) • [4](https://ukrainianlive.org/leontovych-mykola) Leontovych did not live to see it: he was shot by an agent of the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police, in January 1921 at his parents' home in the village of Markivka.[6](https://kpi.ua/en/shchedryk) • [16](https://kaf.cnu.edu.ua/en/2023/01/24/ukrainian-shchedryk-and-american-carol-of-the-bells/)
## "Carol of the Bells"
The English version is not a translation. Peter J. Wilhousky, an American conductor of Ukrainian descent who arranged for the [NBC Symphony Orchestra](https://www.edgepedia.org/nbc-symphony-orchestra), heard the Ukrainian chorus at Carnegie Hall and later wrote new, Christmas-themed lyrics about ringing bells, replacing the swallow and the [New Year](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-year) wishes. "I discarded the Ukrainian text about 'Shchedryk' and instead concentrated on the joyous sound of bells that I heard in the music," he later explained in a letter to the Ukrainian musicologist Roman Sawycky.[13](https://time.com/6548868/christmas-songs-origins/) • [2](https://www.ukrainer.net/en/en-shchedryk-carol-of-the-bells-history/) The words and music were first printed in 1936 by the publisher Carl Fischer under the title "Carol of the Bells", with Leontovych credited as the composer of the music.[8](https://vue.gov.ua/%D0%A9%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA)
With the new text the song entered the American Christmas repertoire and gradually lost its association with Ukraine. The bandleader [Fred Waring](https://www.edgepedia.org/fred-waring) and his Pennsylvanians popularized the Wilhousky arrangement from 1940, and symphonic versions were performed and recorded under conductors such as Eugene Ormandy, Leonard Bernstein, and André Kostelanetz.[17](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdc/00102328358/00102328358.pdf) • [9](https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CL%5CE%5CLeontovychMykola.htm) The melody has since appeared in films including *Home Alone*, the *Harry Potter* series, *The Addams Family*, and *The Simpsons*, and has been reworked in more than 150 arrangements, from choral and orchestral versions to rock, jazz, and electronic settings.[10](https://platform.man.gov.ua/media/656f6fae-0408-4260-b0a7-4eaee8e212a4) • [2](https://www.ukrainer.net/en/en-shchedryk-carol-of-the-bells-history/)
## Musical character
The piece is built almost entirely on the repeated four-note motif, a device the Ukrainian encyclopedia of music describes as combining ostinato repetition with continuous motion, giving the short work its hypnotic, bell-like effect.[8](https://vue.gov.ua/%D0%A9%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA) Unlike most familiar Christmas carols it is short, fast, and in a minor key, which is one reason it does not sound like a conventional carol even in its English form.[12](https://spadok.org.ua/narodni-zvychayi-i-obryady/istoriya-ukrayinskogo-shchedryka)
## Cultural meaning
In Ukraine "Shchedryk" remains a New Year ritual song rather than a Christmas one, and singing it at Christmas can strike local singers as out of place.[1](https://news.rice.edu/news/2004/carol-bells-wasnt-originally-christmas-song) Since the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022 the song has also taken on a role as a marker of Ukrainian identity abroad: Carnegie Hall marked the centenary of the American premiere with the "Notes from Ukraine" concert, a facsimile of Leontovych's manuscript was later displayed on a wall of the hall, and the Ukrainian Children's Choir "Shchedryk" of Kyiv has performed it in wartime.[7](https://ui.org.ua/en/news-en/the-notes-of-shchedryk-are-now-displayed-on-one-of-the-walls-of-new-yorks-carnegie-hall/) • [18](https://ui.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/programme_notes-from-ukraine.pdf) A commemorative coin honoring Leontovych was issued in Ukraine for the centenary of the first performance.[6](https://kpi.ua/en/shchedryk)
## References
1. ['Carol of the Bells' wasn't originally a Christmas song, Rice News (2004)](https://news.rice.edu/news/2004/carol-bells-wasnt-originally-christmas-song)
2. [From 'Shchedryk' to 'Carol of the Bells': the untold story of the famous song, Ukraїner](https://www.ukrainer.net/en/en-shchedryk-carol-of-the-bells-history/)
3. [Carol of the Bells: History and Lyrics with Translation, Ukrainian Lessons](https://www.ukrainianlessons.com/carol-of-the-bells/)
4. [Leontovych Mykola, Ukrainian Live Classic](https://ukrainianlive.org/leontovych-mykola)
5. [Микола Леонтович. Хорові твори (PDF)](https://www.pisni.org.ua/files/099/024508_i_v_vas_i_v_nas.pdf)
6. [Melody of bells, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute](https://kpi.ua/en/shchedryk)
7. [The notes of 'Shchedryk' are now displayed on one of the walls of New York's Carnegie Hall, Ukrainian Institute](https://ui.org.ua/en/news-en/the-notes-of-shchedryk-are-now-displayed-on-one-of-the-walls-of-new-yorks-carnegie-hall/)
8. [Щедрик, ВУЕ (Encyclopedia of Ukraine online)](https://vue.gov.ua/%D0%A9%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA)
9. [Leontovych, Mykola, Encyclopedia of Ukraine](https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CL%5CE%5CLeontovychMykola.htm)
10. [Українець, який створив найпопулярнішу різдвяну пісню](https://platform.man.gov.ua/media/656f6fae-0408-4260-b0a7-4eaee8e212a4)
11. [«Щедрик». Відома пісня з невідомою історією, Ukraїner](https://www.ukrainer.net/shchedryk/)
12. [Історія українського Щедрика, SPADOK.ORG.UA](https://spadok.org.ua/narodni-zvychayi-i-obryady/istoriya-ukrayinskogo-shchedryka)
13. [The Surprising Origins of Popular Christmas Songs, Time](https://time.com/6548868/christmas-songs-origins/)
14. [Фестиваль «Щедрик» та культурно-мистецький проект (report, 2021)](https://arts.gov.ua/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/zvit-pro-robotu-derzhmystecztv-u-2021.pdf)
15. [From 'Shchedryk' to 'Carol of the Bells': How One Melody Became Two Songs, Ukrainavi](https://ukrainavi.com/en/shchedryk-carol-of-the-bells/)
16. [Ukrainian "Shchedryk" and American "Carol of the Bells", Department of English Philology, Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University](https://kaf.cnu.edu.ua/en/2023/01/24/ukrainian-shchedryk-and-american-carol-of-the-bells/)
17. [Ukrainian Songs That Americans Sing, Library of Congress (PDF)](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdc/00102328358/00102328358.pdf)
18. [Notes on the Program, 'Notes from Ukraine' concert, Ukrainian Institute (PDF)](https://ui.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/programme_notes-from-ukraine.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Holiday, patriotic, anthem, and ceremonial songs › Christmas and holiday songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license