25 Days: Tribute to Composers of Christmas Past

17:38: "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is a popular English Christmas carol from the West Country of England.The Bristol-based composer, conductor and organist Arthur Warrell is responsible for the popularity of the carol. Warrell arranged the tune for his own University of Bristol Madrigal Singers, and performed it with them in concert on December 6, 1935. That same year, his elaborate four-part arrangement was published by Oxford University Press, under the title "A Merry Christmas: West Country traditional song". (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Wish_You_a_Merry_Christmas)

17:03: "Silent Night" (German: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night)

15:52: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is a Christmas carol that first appeared in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems. Its lyrics had been written by Charles Wesley. Wesley had requested and received slow and solemn music for his lyrics, not the joyful tune expected today. Moreover, Wesley's original opening couplet is "Hark! how all the welkin rings / Glory to the King of Kings". (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hark!_The_Herald_Angels_Sing)

14:50: "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (originally written in Latin as Adeste Fideles) is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692) and King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), with the earliest manuscript of the hymn bearing his name, located in the library of the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa. (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Come,_All_Ye_Faithful)

14:18: "O Tannenbaum" (German: [oː ˈtanənbaʊm]; "O fir tree", English: "O Christmas Tree") is a German Christmas song. Based on a traditional folk song, it became associated with the traditional Christmas tree by the early 20th century and sung as a Christmas carol. (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Tannenbaum)

13:57: "What Child Is This?" is a Christmas carol whose lyrics were written by William Chatterton Dix, in 1865. At the time of composing the carol, Dix worked as an insurance company manager and had been struck by a severe illness. While recovering, he underwent a spiritual renewal that led him to write several hymns, including lyrics to this carol that was subsequently set to the tune of "Greensleeves", a traditional English folk song. Although it was written in Great Britain, the carol is more popular in the United States than in its country of origin today. (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Child_Is_This%3F)

13:29: "Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song (Roud # 6294). It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world, its traditional use being to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. By extension, it is also sung at funerals, graduations, and as a farewell or ending to other occasions. The international Scouting movement, in many countries, uses it to close jamborees and other functions. (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne)

13:01: "The First Noel" (also written "The First Noël" and "The First Nowell") is a traditional classical English Christmas carol, most likely from the early modern period, although possibly earlier. Noel is an Early Modern English synonym of "Christmas". (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Noel)

12:18: "O Holy Night" (French: "Minuit Chretiens!" or "Cantique de Noël") is a well-known Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" (Midnight, Christians) written by a wine merchant and poet, Placide Cappeau (1808–1877). In both the French original and the English version of the carol, as well as many other languages, the text reflects on the birth of Jesus and on humanity's redemption. (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Holy_Night)

11:46: "Up on the House Top" is a Christmas song written by Benjamin Hanby in 1864. It has been recorded by a multitude of singers, most notably Gene Autry in 1953. (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_on_the_House_Top)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Holy_Night)

11:08: "O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a popular Christmas carol. The text was written by Phillips Brooks (1835–1893), an Episcopal priest, then rector of Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia and later of Trinity Church, Boston. He was inspired by visiting the village of Bethlehem in the Sanjak of Jerusalem in 1865. Three years later, he wrote the poem for his church, and his organist Lewis Redner (1831-1908) added the music. (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Little_Town_of_Bethlehem)

10:08: "Good King Wenceslas" is a Christmas carol that tells a story of a Bohemian king going on a journey and braving harsh winter weather to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen (December 26, the Second Day of Christmas). During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step, through the deep snow. The legend is based on the life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia or Svatý Václav in Czech (907–935). The name Wenceslas is a Latinised version of the modern Czech language "Václav". (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_King_Wenceslas)

9:28: "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" is a Christmas song that originated with a poem by Emily Huntington Miller (1833-1913), published as "Lilly's Secret" in The Little Corporal Magazine in December 1865. The song's lyrics have also been attributed to Benjamin Hanby, who wrote a similar song in the 1860s, Up on the Housetop. However, the lyrics now in common use closely resemble Miller's 1865 poem. The music has been attributed to John Piersol McCaskey, a school principal and former Mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who claimed to have written the song in 1867. The "Johnny" mentioned in the song who wants a pair of skates is McCaskey's late son, John, who died as a child. (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolly_Old_Saint_Nicholas)

9:10: "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (Roud 68) is an English Christmas carol that enumerates in the manner of a cumulative song a series of increasingly grand gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas (the twelve days that make up the Christmas season, starting with Christmas Day). The song, published in England in 1780 without music as a chant or rhyme, is thought to be French in origin. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 68. The tunes of collected versions vary. The standard tune now associated with it is derived from a 1909 arrangement of a traditional folk melody by English composer Frederic Austin, who first introduced the familiar prolongation of the verse "five gold rings". (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)

8:44: "The Holly and the Ivy" is a traditional British folk Christmas carol. The song is catalogued as Roud Folk Song Index No. 514. (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holly_and_the_Ivy)

8:02: "We Three Kings", also known as "We Three Kings of Orient Are" or "The Quest of the Magi", is a Christmas carol that was written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. in 1857. At the time of composing the carol, Hopkins served as the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and he wrote the carol for a Christmas pageant in New York City. Many versions of this song have been composed and it remains a popular Christmas carol. (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Three_Kings)

7:20: "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" (1849) – sometimes rendered as "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" – is a poem and Christmas carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts. Sears' lyrics are most commonly set to "Noel," adapted by Arthur Sullivan from an English melody (in Commonwealth countries), or to "Carol," composed by Richard Storrs Willis (in the United States). (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Came_Upon_the_Midnight_Clear)

6:33: “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” is an English traditional Christmas carol. It is in the Roxburghe Collection (iii. 452), and is listed as no. 394 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It is also known as Tidings of Comfort and Joy, and by variant incipits as Come All You Worthy Gentlemen; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; God Rest Ye, Merry Christians; or God Rest You Merry People All. It is one of the oldest extant carols, dated to the 16th century or earlier. The earliest known printed edition of the carol is in a broadsheet dated to c. 1760. The traditional English melody is in the minor mode; the earliest printed edition of the melody appears to be in a parody, in the 1829 Facetiae of William Hone. It had been traditional and associated with the carol since at least the mid-18th century, when it was recorded by James Nares under the title "The old Christmas Carol". (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Rest_You_Merry,_Gentlemen)

5:52: "Joy to the World" is a popular Christmas carol with words by Isaac Watts. As of the late 20th century, "Joy to the World" was the most-published Christmas hymn in North America. (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World)

5:20: "Carol of the Bells" is a popular Christmas carol, with music by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1914 and lyrics by Peter J. Wilhousky. The song is based on the Ukrainian folk chant "Shchedryk". Wilhousky's lyrics are under copyright protection (owned by Carl Fischer Music); the music is in the public domain. (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_of_the_Bells)

4:31: "Go Tell It On The Mountain" is an African-American spiritual song, compiled by John Wesley Work, Jr., dating back to at least 1865, that has been sung and recorded by many gospel and secular performers. It is considered a Christmas carol because its original lyrics celebrate the Nativity of Jesus. (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Tell_It_on_the_Mountain_(song)

3:40: "Deck the Halls" or "Deck the Hall" (which is the original version of the lyrics) is a traditional Christmas, yuletide, and New Years' carol. The melody is Welsh dating back to the sixteenth century, and belongs to a winter carol, "Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862. (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deck_the_Halls

3:01: "Angels We Have Heard on High" is a Christmas carol with the lyrics written by James Chadwick, Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, to the music from a French song called Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes. The music is the same as the original song, though Chadwick's lyrics albeit unique and original are clearly derived and inspired, and in parts a loose translation. (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_We_Have_Heard_on_High)

2:21: "Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in the late nineteenth century and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain, it is one of the most popular carols; a 1996 Gallup Poll ranked it joint second. Although it was long claimed to be the work of German religious reformer Martin Luther, the carol is now thought to be wholly American in origin. The two most-common musical settings are by William J. Kirkpatrick (1895) and James Ramsey Murray (1887). Researchers have not yet confirmed the original lyricist(s). (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Away_in_a_Manger)

0:57: “Jingle Bells" … was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857... Although originally intended for the Thanksgiving season, and having no connection to Christmas, it became associated with Christmas music and the holiday season in general decades after it was first performed on Washington Street in Boston in 1857... It was first recorded in 1889 on an Edison cylinder. (WikiPedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_Bells)

0:00: "Silent Night" (German: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. (WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night)