1919 concert tour of Europe and America, where it premiered in the United States on October 5, 1922, to a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall. The original work was intended to be sung a cappella by mixed four-voice choir. Two other settings of the composition were also created by Leontovych: One for women's choir (unaccompanied) and another for children's choir with piano accompaniment. These are rarely performed or recorded. English lyric versions Wilhousky rearranged the melody for orchestra with new lyrics for NBC radio network's symphony orchestra, centered around the theme of bells because the melody reminded him of hand bells, which begins "Hark! How the bells". It was first aired during the Great Depression, and Wilhousky copyrighted the new lyrics in 1936 and also published the song, despite the song having been published almost two decades earlier in the Ukrainian National Republic. Its initial popularity stemmed largely from Wilhousky's ability to reach a wide audience as his role as arranger for the NBC Symphony Orchestra. It is now strongly associated with Christmas because of its new lyrics, which reference bells, caroling, and the line "merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas". "Ring, Christmas Bells", an English-language variant featuring nativity-based lyrics, was written by Minna Louise Hohman in 1947. Two other versions exist by anonymous writers: one from 1957 titled "Come Dance and Sing" and one from 1972 that begins "Hark to the bells". American recordings by various artists began to surface on the radio in the 1940s. The song gained further popularity when an instrumental was featured in television advertisements for Andre champagne in the 1970s. "Carol of the Bells" has been recorded into over 150 versions and re-arrangements for varying vocal and instrumental compositions. Notable recordings In popular culture The song appears in the 1990 film Home Alone as arranged by John Williams. In 2018, this version charted at No. 20 on the Swedish Heatseeker chart. The Muppets' 2009 parody of the song climaxes with a large bell (set up by Animal) falling on the increasingly frenetic Beaker, which quickly became a viral video that Christmas season. Charts Pentatonix version Mantikor version See also List of Christmas carols References Ukrainian music New Year songs Ukrainian songs Ukrainian folk music Christmas carols Compositions by Mykola Leontovych