Christmas music

Christmas music is a special kind of music that people enjoy during the Christmas season. It includes many different styles and types of songs. Some Christmas music is just instruments playing beautiful melodies, while other songs, called carols, tell stories about the birth of Jesus Christ, the tradition of giving gifts, and fun customs like celebrating with family and friends. There are also songs about winter and the holiday spirit that have become popular over time.

Traditional Christmas carols include famous songs like "Silent Night", "O Holy Night", and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". Before the 20th century, most Christmas songs were about the religious meaning of Christmas. But during the Great Depression, many new songs came out that focused more on the cultural traditions of the holiday. These songs included fun tunes for children like "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", as well as lovely songs performed by famous singers of that time, such as "White Christmas".

People all around the world enjoy Christmas music during the holiday season. You can hear these songs at concerts, in churches, at shopping malls, on city streets, and in homes. Many radio stations play Christmas music all day long in the weeks leading up to Christmas. This special music helps make the Christmas season feel warm and joyful for many people.

History

See also: Christmas

Early music

Music linked to Christmas likely started in 4th-century Rome, with Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium. By the 13th century, influenced by Francis of Assisi, popular Christmas songs in local languages began to appear. English Christmas carols first showed up in a 1426 book by John Awdlay, an English chaplain, who listed twenty-five "caroles of Cristemas". These were probably sung by groups of wassailers traveling between homes.

Music was an early part of Christmas celebrations. The earliest examples are special songs and prayers made for church services during Christmas and Epiphany. Many of these are still used today by the Eastern Orthodox Church. The 13th century saw the creation of carols written in everyday language, thanks to Francis of Assisi.

In the Middle Ages, English people combined dancing in circles with singing and called them carols. Later, "carol" came to mean a song that talked about religion in a happy, familiar way. The carol idea moved from Italy to France, Germany, and then to England. English Christmas carols first appeared in a 1426 work by John Audelay, a Shropshire priest and poet. He listed 25 "caroles of Cristemas", likely sung by wassailers going from house to house. Music became one of the greatest ways to honor Christmas, and Christmas music includes some of the most beautiful works by great musicians. Martin Luther, the founder of Lutheran Christianity, encouraged people to sing together during church services and also helped spread caroling outside of church.

Puritan prohibition

During the rule of Cromwell in the Commonwealth of England, the Rump Parliament stopped people from singing Christmas carols, calling them Pagan and wrong. Like other Christian traditions from the Catholic and Magisterial Protestant churches, Puritans did not like Christmas carols. Cromwell’s time in power stopped all public Christmas celebrations. This try to ban Christmas can also be seen in the early history of Father Christmas.

The Puritan Westminster Assembly of Divines made Sunday the only holy day in 1644. By 1645, the new church rules for England recognized this and legally ended Christmas. In 1647, Parliament said celebrating Christmas was against the law. Some people still held secret services for Christmas and sang carols in hiding.

Puritans did not like celebrating Christmas, a feeling that kept coming back in Europe and the US for many years after.

Royal restoration

When Charles II returned to the throne in May 1660, restoring the Stuarts, people in England again sang Christmas carols publicly. This was part of bringing back Christmas traditions, encouraged by the king himself.

The Victorian Era brought many new Christmas carols, such as "Silent Night", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", and "O Holy Night". The first Christmas songs about Saint Nicholas or gift-givers appeared in the 19th century, including "Up on the Housetop" and "Jolly Old St. Nicholas". Many older Christmas hymns got new words added during this time, especially in 1871 when John Stainer published a well-known book called "Christmas Carols New & Old". William Sandys wrote Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern in 1833, which first printed many classic English carols and helped bring back Christmas in the middle of the Victorian era. In 1880 on Christmas Eve, churches in Truro Cathedral, Cornwall, England started singing carols as part of a special evening service called Nine Lessons and Carols. This idea is now used in churches all over the world.

Studies show that how people celebrate and sing Christmas carols changes a lot between countries today. Even well-known songs often have wrong stories about where they came from. For some people, singing carols is more about family traditions and cultural heritage than about religion. Christmas music is also enjoyed in a more general way by places like the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Finland.

Alms

The habit of singing Christmas carols to ask for alms or charity started in England after the Restoration in the seventeenth century. Town musicians or 'waits' had permission to collect money in the streets before Christmas. This custom spread to more people by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and continues today. Another old English tradition, mostly done by women, was taking a wassail bowl to neighbors to ask for gifts while singing carols. Even though many Christmas carols were written in the nineteenth century or later, some older ones remain, like the "Wexford Carol", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "As I Sat on a Sunny Bank", "The Holly and the Ivy", the "Coventry Carol", and "I Saw Three Ships". Today, many people around the world still go door-to-door singing carols. In places like India, the money collected goes to the poor through the churches.

Church feasts

See also: Liturgical year

Because Advent and Christmastide are important times in the church year, there are many special songs made for church services celebrating the Christmas story. Composers from the Baroque era to today have written special Christmas music called cantatas and motets. Some famous examples include:

• Thomas Tallis: Mass "Puer natus est nobis" (1554)
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: O magnum mysterium (1569)
• Orlande de Lassus: Resonet in laudibus (1569)
• Heinrich Schütz: Weihnachtshistorie (1664)
• Johann Sebastian Bach: several cantatas for Christmas to Epiphany and Christmas Oratorio (1734)
• Jakub Jan Ryba: Czech Christmas Mass "Hey, Master!" (1796)
• Anton Bruckner: Virga Jesse floruit (1885)

Classical music

During Christmas, many special classical music pieces are performed. One famous example is Messiah by George Frideric Handel, often played during the holiday season even though it was first made for Easter. Another well-known piece is Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, which tells the story of the birth of Jesus and other joyful events.

Other composers also created beautiful music for Christmas. Antonio Vivaldi wrote a violin concerto called "Il Riposo per il Santissimo Natale", and Arcangelo Corelli composed the Christmas Concerto. Many more musicians have added their own special touches to Christmas celebrations through their music.

Christmas carols

Main article: Christmas carol

See also: List of Christmas carols

Many songs that we hear during Christmas time are called Christmas carols. These songs have long histories, with some dating back many centuries.

A popular group of traditional carols often heard during Christmas events includes:

A collection of traditional Christmas music

performed by James D. Blodget on a Roland U-20 synthesizer, December 23, 2004.

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"Joy to the World"

Performed a cappella by Kim Butler on December 15, 2006.

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"I Saw Three Ships"

Tune of traditional English Christmas carol transcribed by CambridgeBayWeather.

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"El Noi de la Mare".ogg)

A traditional Catalan Christmas carol, arranged for guitar.

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• [Angels We Have Heard on High] (in the UK the text of [Angels from the Realms of Glory] is sung to this tune)
• [Away in a Manger]
• [Deck the Halls]
• [Ding Dong Merrily on High]
• [The First Noel]
• [Go Tell It on the Mountain]
• [God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen]
• [Good King Wenceslas]
• [Hark! The Herald Angels Sing]
• [I Saw Three Ships]
• [It Came Upon the Midnight Clear]
• [Joy to the World]
• [O Christmas Tree] (O Tannenbaum)
• [O Come, All Ye Faithful] (Adeste Fideles)
• [O come, O come, Emmanuel]
• [O Holy Night] (Cantique de Noël)
• [O Little Town of Bethlehem]
• [Once in Royal David's City]
• [Silent Night] (Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht)
• [The Twelve Days of Christmas]
• [We Three Kings of Orient Are]
• [We Wish You a Merry Christmas]
• [What Child Is This?]
• [While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks]

These songs come from many years ago, with the oldest (Wexford Carol) from the 12th century and the newest from the late 1800s.

Early secular Christmas songs

Among the earliest non-religious Christmas songs was [The Twelve Days of Christmas], which first appeared in 1780 in England, though its tune came later in 1909. The English West Country carol [We Wish You a Merry Christmas] has roots going back to the 1830s but was popularized in its modern form in 1935. As the fun holiday traditions (like Santa Claus) grew in the 1800s, so did non-religious Christmas songs. Benjamin Hanby's [Up on the House Top] and Emily Huntington Miller's [Jolly Old Saint Nicholas] were some of the first fun Christmas songs in the United States, from the 1860s; they came after [Jingle Bells], written in 1857 but not specifically about Christmas, and [O Christmas Tree], written in 1824 but made into a Christmas song after being translated from German.

Published Christmas music

Christmas music has been printed as sheet music for centuries. One of the first books of printed Christmas music was Piae Cantiones, a Finnish songbook from 1582 that included many songs still known today as Christmas carols. In the 1800s, books like Christmas Carols, New and Old (Bramley and Stainer, 1871) helped make carols more popular. In the 1900s, Oxford University Press published successful collections like The Oxford Book of Carols (Martin Shaw, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Dearmer, 1928), which brought back old folk songs and made them popular again. This was followed by the best-selling Carols for Choirs series (David Willcocks, Reginald Jacques and John Rutter), first published in 1961 and still used today.

• Christmas Carols, New and Old (1871)
• Oxford Book of Carols (1928)
• Carols for Choirs (1961)
• New Oxford Book of Carols (1992)
• A Shorter New Oxford Book of Carols (1992)

Choirmasters poll

In 2008, BBC Music Magazine asked choral experts and leaders of church choirs in the UK and the US to pick the "50 Greatest Carols". The top ten favorite Christmas carols and songs were:

1. [In the Bleak Midwinter] – Harold Darke
2. [In Dulci Jubilo] – traditional
3. [A Spotless Rose] – Herbert Howells
4. [Bethlehem Down] – Peter Warlock
5. [Lully, Lulla] – traditional
6. [Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day]
7. [There Is No Rose] - traditional (15th c.)
8. [O Come, All Ye Faithful]
9. [Of the Father's Heart Begotten]
10. "What Sweeter Music" – John Rutter

Popular Christmas songs

United States

In 2018, research found that Americans prefer traditional Christmas carols over modern songs. That year, "[Silent Night]" was named the most popular Christmas song. According to data from 2016, "[Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town]", written in 1934, is the most played holiday song in the past 50 years. It was first performed by Eddie Cantor on his radio show and later recorded by many artists, including Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen.

Classic songs from before the rock era, like "[Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!]", "[Winter Wonderland]", "[Sleigh Ride]", and "[Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas]", still top the holiday charts. Rock-era songs such as "[Wonderful Christmastime]" by Paul McCartney, "[All I Want for Christmas Is You]" by Mariah Carey, and "[Last Christmas]" by Wham! have also become popular. It usually takes about ten years for a song to become a Christmas classic, as seen with songs like "[Santa Tell Me]" by Ariana Grande and "[Underneath the Tree]" by Kelly Clarkson.

Since the mid-1950s, many Christmas songs have romantic themes, using Christmas as a backdrop. The 1950s also saw the rise of funny and satirical holiday songs. Some songs, like "[The Christmas Shoes]", brought back Christian themes alongside secular ones. The 1980s and 1990s saw a return to instrumental Christmas music, especially with groups like Mannheim Steamroller and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Most-performed Christmas songs

The top thirty most-played holiday songs often reflect Christmas traditions, such as caroling and gift-giving, and feature popular characters like Santa Claus. Songs like "[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]" and "[Frosty the Snowman]" introduced new holiday figures. These songs are celebrated for their nostalgic and sentimental value, evoking simpler times and cherished holiday practices.

Christmas song surveys

Surveys of U.S. radio listeners have identified both favorite and less popular Christmas songs. Favorites include Bing Crosby's "[White Christmas]", Nat King Cole's "[The Christmas Song]", and Brenda Lee's "[Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree]". Less popular songs include Barbra Streisand's version of "[Jingle Bells]" and the Singing Dogs' rendition of the same song.

United Kingdom and Ireland

In the UK and Ireland, some chart-topping songs have become closely associated with Christmas. Songs like Band Aid's "[Do They Know It's Christmas?]", Slade's "[Merry Xmas Everybody]", and Wham!'s "[Last Christmas]" are particularly popular. The "Christmas Number One" — a song that reaches the top of the charts before Christmas — is a significant event, with artists like The Beatles, Spice Girls, and LadBaby achieving this feat.

Australia

In Australia, where Christmas occurs during summer, traditions differ from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Australians often celebrate outdoors, visiting beaches or campgrounds. Carols by Candlelight events are a popular tradition, with major gatherings televised nationwide. Australian artists have created unique Christmas songs that reflect local traditions, such as Paul Kelly's "[How to Make Gravy]", which tells a story of missing family during Christmas.

Philippines

The Philippines has a rich tradition of Christmas music, influenced by Spanish and American cultures. Many Filipino Christmas songs are in Tagalog and focus on local traditions like caroling, the parol (a traditional Christmas lantern), and Simbang Gabi (Dawn Masses). Jose Mari Chan's "[Christmas in Our Hearts]" is one of the most popular Filipino Christmas songs. Radio and television in the Philippines often feature Christmas music starting as early as September.

Other popular Christmas songs

Other well-known Christmas songs include "[Jolly Old Saint Nicholas]", "[I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm]", and "[The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot]". Songs referencing the Nativity scene, such as "[I Wonder as I Wander]" and "[Mary's Boy Child]", are also popular. The 1950s and 1960s added many classics to the Christmas canon, including "[(Everybody's Waitin' for) The Man with the Bag]" and "[Please Come Home for Christmas]".

Christmas songs from musicals

Christmas songs from musicals and films have become standards. Songs like "[I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm]" from On the Avenue, "[White Christmas]" from Holiday Inn, and "[Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas]" from Meet Me In St. Louis are beloved classics. The operetta Babes in Toyland introduced the song "Toyland", and films like Scrooge and Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas have added their own holiday tunes to the repertoire.

Christmas novelty songs

Novelty Christmas songs are humorous or nonsensical tracks that add fun to the holiday season. These songs often use unusual lyrics or sounds and include titles like "[I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas]" and "[Jingle Bells]" by the Singing Dogs. Comedic duos like Cheech & Chong and bands like The Kinks have contributed to this genre. Recent novelty songs include "[Christmas at Ground Zero]" by Weird Al Yankovic and "[Dick in a Box]" by The Lonely Island.

Non-Christian writers

Many popular Christmas songs were written by individuals from diverse backgrounds. For example, "[White Christmas]" was written by Irving Berlin, and "[Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!]" by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne. These songs have become timeless classics, enjoyed by people of all backgrounds during the holiday season.

Adopted Christmas music

Many songs we hear during Christmas were not originally made for the holiday. Some were written for other celebrations and later became part of Christmas traditions.

For example, "Tempus Adest Floridum" was a spring carol that later became linked to Christmas. "Joy to the World" was first written about a different topic but is now a classic Christmas song. Even "Jingle Bells", originally about Thanksgiving, is now sung at Christmas. Other songs like "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Pinocchio and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" from Frozen are enjoyed during the holiday season even though they were not written for Christmas.

Radio broadcasting of Christmas music

In the United States, many radio stations start playing Christmas music in late November, often after Thanksgiving. Some stations even change all their music to just Christmas songs for the holiday season. This special change began around the year 2001.