Here’s the best classical Christmas music from Bach to Tchaikovsky to get you in the festive spirit
Enough of this ‘Ramones’ and ‘John Lennon’ nonsense – bring back real music! This rundown of the best classical Christmas music harks back to the era when the only thing ‘shredding’ was the tip of a composer's pencil flowing across his parchment staff, when the best Christmas songs were heavy on orchestral suites rather than punk riffs.
We kid, of course. But sometimes, you need a break from modernism during the holidays... and a reprieve from Rudolph, Mariah, Frosty and Bing. Tis the season for classical favorites, too, and this rundown of 21 essentials from centuries past are waiting to help you immerse yourself in the holidays the old fashioned way. Trust us: These works are exponentially more bracing than whatever pop singer’s yuletide novelty is playing at the mall down the street.
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Though well over a century years passed between when this piece was first performed near the end of Bach’s career in 1734 and the next recorded airing in the mid-19th-century, the Oratorio has become a staple of classical music during the holidays. The six-part piece follows the birth of Jesus and the first visit from the shepherds through the Epiphany when the magi bring gifts to the holy baby.
Even if you have never seen Tchaikovsky’s most famed ballet, this song should capture your imagination, as the prima ballerina (playing the part of the Sugar Plum) brings Clara, the young girl who is given the Nutcracker Doll, into a fantastical world. The sounds of the celesta – an instrument that looks like a small upright piano – sounds almost like a softer, more playful version of the traditional handbells that fill many churches around the holidays.
Baroque composer Handel’s oratorio Messiah is performed in full by many orchestras for the Christmas season, but even if you’ve missed hearing the work in full, you’ve certainly heard the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus. The joyful, operatic refrain is so synonymous with celebration it’s become shorthand in plenty of films and television for feelings of jubilance.
It’s hard to deny the seasonal aptness of the third of Mozart’s Three German Dances, especially when the sleigh bells come in. It is said that the composer wrote this song to mimic the sensation of going up and down the snow-covered hills on an 18th century sleigh, which is about as idyllic a winter wonderland as any.
After the turmoil of the earlier portion of the ballet, when the Nutcracker battles the Mouse King, this tranquil song seems to bring to life the experience of a beautiful sunrise after a night’s storm and a renewed sense of peace and happiness.
Though Bach is often seen as a more somber composer, this uplifting orchestral masterpiece serves as the music for a Latin liturgy centered around the portion of the Gospel of Luke, in which the Virgin Mary is visited by an angel telling her that she will give birth to Jesus. The 12-movement baroque composition was expanded by the composer to include Christmas hymns.
Though this song takes place shortly after Christmas, when the shepherds bid the Holy Family farewell as they flee from the evil King Herod to Egypt, this number from the 19th century ontario L'enfance du Christ by the French composer Berlioz brings a lightness to this dark moment in the baby Jesus’ story.
This magnificent carol dates back to 15th century England, making it one of the oldest Christmas songs still performed today. The lyrics praise Mary as a rose with virtue beyond all others, ‘For in this rose contained was heaven and earth in little space.’
Though this song is more frequently associated with spring, Bach wrote it in celebration of Advent, the season before Christmas when churches celebrate the coming of the birth of Christ. The song was later often used to celebrate Mary in general.
Like Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, this jaunty 19th century march is about toys being brought to life. It is particularly popular in the US, where it has become a staple of the Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular and a favorite of the Boston Pops.
Written by British composer Hely-Hutchinson in 1929, when he was just 28 years old, this symphony brings four movements centered around classic Christmas carols: ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful,’ ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman,’ ‘The First Noel’ and ‘Here We Come A-wassailing.’ Listen carefully and you might hear undertones of the Coventry Carol in the third part as well.
Don’t be fooled by the Middle English words of this awe-worthy choral piece: Britten wrote the music in 1942. Using select portions of The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems for his text, Britten created an eleven-movement cantata worthy of the ages.
Another intricate choral piece by a 20th-century British composer, Finzi skillfully brought together words by British poet laureate Robert Bridges and the story of Christ’s birth in the Gospel of Luke for ‘In Terra Pax.’
Written for his granddaughter while the composer was living in Rome, this collection of 12 songs for the piano is not the best known suite by the prolific Hungarian composer. Yet, the tranquil arrangements of pre-existing hymns and carols, and the addition of entirely original compositions, make it a thoughtful reflection on the holiday.
Before Christmas was the commercial powerhouse it is today, churches spent a fair amount of time drumming up the drama of King Herrod’s obsession with finding and killing the messiah. This early-16th-century song depicting the massacre of the innocents is an example of this, and is appropriately haunting.
Austrian composer Schoenberg arranged this version of the 16th century Christmas hymn ‘Es ist ein Ros entsprungen’ (Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming) in the early 20th century for a chamber group. When the song adds moments of ‘Good King Wenceslas’ and other well known Christmas carols, the dynamic quality of Schoenberg's expressionist composition skills is revealed.
Prokofiev's seasonal, joyful piece begins slowly and then quickens its tempo, resembling a brisk winter ride upon the piece's titular three-horse sleigh. The composition is part of Lieutenant Kijé, an orchestral suite written for a film in the very first days of sound cinema.
Though the exact authorship is often disputed, with everyone from a Portuguese King to (more commonly) a Scottish Jacobite living in exile, ‘Adeste Fideles’ has become one of the best-known Christmas hymns around the world.
When this crowd-pleasing opera based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale was first performed in December 1893 (conducted by famed composer Richard Strauss), the music became forever connected with Christmas. It seems fitting that a magical tale of children and candy should live on in today’s rather secular version of the holiday filled with sugary treats and toys.
Another hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary, ‘O Sanctissima’ dates back to the 18th century. Performed originally on feast days celebrating Mary, the song is now a standard for orchestras and classical chamber groups around the holiday season.
While the original Latin text for this hymn would not be written until the 1700s, the music itself likely dates back to 15th century France. The lyrics verge on mournful as they depict a world before Jesus’s birth.
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