Friday, November 10, 2023

Large Christmas Works: Part 5: Twentieth Century - Working List

Leroy Anderson

Large Christmas Works: Part 5: Twentieth Century - Working List

Compiled by R. Rojas

Updated Jan. 20, 2023

Previous Post: Romantic Period

Editor's Note: This list was originally in one blog post but due to the amount of YouTube videos we embed, the post would take a long time to load on some browsers, so we have divided it into six parts by classical music period. We have kept the same introduction for each post.

We spend so much time focusing on Christmas carols on this blog and our social media. The carol is the namesake of our blog. However, I bet composers of larger Christmas works are saying, "What about us?"

About the list

So here is another working list as we attempt to chronicle large Christmas works and medleys. I bet there is an annotated bibliography done by some great scholar hidden in some hidden corner of a university library, I wanted to present not just a list but an audio/video of the piece so that it is readily available for the listener.

Although the three-minute mark is more of a post-advent-of-recording phenomenon, I have used it as our mark for what makes a larger Christmas work. Some pieces are just above and others way above. There are some that are so famous, we had to include them even if they were under three minutes.

As you know, we feature a lot of winter-themed classical music across our social media and blog, but sadly, we will not include them here because it would be an endless list. So, Sergei Prokofiev's Troika's "Sleigh Ride" or even Leopold Morzart's "Sleigh Ride" will not be included. If the winter piece mentions Christmas will be the exception.

About Medleys

I was hesitant to use the various Christmas carol medleys out there, but I think the study of the medley is an important one. In the mariachi world that I was once part of, there are a number of medleys called "popourri" in Spanish. There some really good ones, and some not so good. I think the main marker of a good quality medley is the transition, although sly modulations are also impressive. While you're making the transition, can the arranger give a prelude of the next song while still in the former?

O Magnum mysterium

We also hesitated to include "O Magnum mysterium," as well as o antiphons. However, with "O Magnum mysterium" being one of the most famous Christmas texts, we just could not. However, we limited their inclusion only to those composition over three minutes or if they had multiple movements.

Chronology

Those works which I do not have a date for, I have put at the bottom while I research the date. I have use dates of publication or first recording or but a "before" date using the date of the video. For some composers in which we do not know the date of publication of the work, we put the date of death of the composer's death to help the reader in placing in time, or we just posted the year the video was posted.

Obviously, there is a lot of Christmas works out there that has not been recorded or are in audio-only and have not been posted to YouTube. See our list of Lost Christmas Music.

Also, some Christmas works do not have a full video of the entire piece, so I have only posted the first video of the composition hoping you will go to YouTube to see the rest of the videos/movements. For example, John Rutter's Dancing Day, I did not post a video of the entire work, but just the first movement. If later find a video of the work in its entirety, will replace the video we have with the video of the entire work.

Yes, this is a rabbit hole we gone down and this list will probably never be complete.

However, from what I have, it is a good look at the trajectory of Christmas music in the choral and classical world from Bach's Christmas Oratorio to Patrick Hawes' The Nativity and Bob Chilcott's Christmas Oratorio.

Please send corrections on dates of publication or premiere to christmascarolsblog@gmail.com or message us on our social media.

2000 Modern to Present

1907

A Christmas Greeting, Op. 52 Edward Elgar

1907

Four Old English Carols, Gustav Holst

1. A babe is born

2. Now let us Sing

3. Jesu, Thou the Virgin

4. The Savior of the World

1906-1916

Two Carols, Gustav Holst

1. A Welcome Song
2. Terly Terlow

1910

Christmas Day, Gustav Holst

1911

No video

Christmas Cantata for soli and chorus, words by Rose Dafforne Betjemann, Julius Harrison

1912

Fantasia on Christmas Carols, Ralph Vaughn Williams

1912

"Christmas Eve on the Mountains" (Original), Arnold Bax

1915 - First Grouping under Opus 1, but they were written at various points between 1897 and 1913

Christmas Songs, Op. 1 (1897-1913), Sibelius

1915

Romanian Christmas Carols, Bartók

1916-17

Three Carols, Gustav Holst

1. I saw three ships

2. Personent hodie

3. Masters of this Hall

1917

A Dream of Christmas, Gustav Holst

1919

Eight Traditional Christas Carols, Ralph Vaughn Williams

1920

Two Traditional Carols from Herefordshire for chorus and organ, Ralph Vaughn Williams

1921

Weihnachtsmusik, Arnold Schoenberg

2021

Christmas Eve, Tone Poem (revision of "Christmas Eve on the Mountains"), Arnold Bax

1922

Constant Christmas, Amy Beach

1925 (published posthumously)

Christmas Overture, Samuel Coledrige-Taylor

1926

On Christmas Night (1926): masque adapted from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Ralph Vaughn Willaims

1927

Carol Symphony (1927), Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901-47)

1928

Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, Cyril Rootham

1930

Lauda per la natività del Signore, P. 166, Ottorino Respighi

1933

A Boy Was Born for treble voices and choir (1933; revised 1955)

1934

1935

La Nativité du Seigneur ("The Lord's Nativity") , Olivier Messiaen

La vierge et l'enfant ("The Virgin and Child")
Les Bergers ("The Shepherds")
Desseins éternels ("Eternal Designs")
Le verbe ("The Word")
Les enfants de Dieu ("The Children of God")
Les anges ("The Angels")
Jésus accepte la souffrance ("Jesus accepts suffering")
Les mages ("The Magi")
Dieu parmi nous ("The Lord Amidst Us")

1939

Christmas Prelude for Chamber Orchestra – Vítězslava Kaprálová

1942

A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28 - Benjamin Britten

1944

Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jésus
("Twenty Contemplations of the Christ-Child"),
Olivier Messiaen

1945

Two Carols, Ralph Vaughn Williams

1946

Twenty Polish Christmas Carols, Lutosławski

1947

A Christmas Cantata, Geoffrey Bush

1948

"Der kleine Melchior und das Weihnachtskind", R. Rudolf Mauersberger

1948

Die Weihnachtsgeschichte, Carl Orff

1950

"Suite of Carols for Brass Choir" by Leroy Anderson

1950

A Christmas Festival, Leroy Anderson

1950

Bertold Hummel (1925-2002): Christmas suite (1950)

1951

Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël, FP 152, Francis Poulenc

O magnum mysterium
Quem vidistis pastores dicite
Videntes stellam
Hodie Christus natus est

1951

Amahl and the Night Visitors, Gian Carlo Menotti

1952

Anthony Collins (1893-1963) (after Liszt) : Christmas Tree Suite for strings and celeste (1952)

I. Lighting the Tree II. Old Times III. Games IV. Bedtime. Performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth. While the first three movements derive from Liszt's Weihnachtsbaum for piano S. 186, the fourth movement is based on En rêve for piano S. 207

1952

Une cantate de Noël for Baritone, Children and Mixed Choruses, Organ and Orchestra, H. 112, Arthur Honegger

1953

H 212 Une cantate de Noël (A Christmas Cantata),
Arthur Honegger

1953

Hodie!, Ralph Vaughn Williams

1954

Hodie, Ralph Vaughan Williams

1955

Echoes Of Christmas, George Feyer

1956 or sooner

In Terra Pax, Op. 39 Finzi

1955

Suite of Carols (version for brass), Leroy Anderson

Suite of Carols, for orchestra, Leroy Anderson

Suite of Carols, for woodwinds, Leroy Anderson

1957

Christmas Cantata, Daniel Pinkham

1959

A Christmas Cantata (Boys/Girls Voicestring Orchestra),
Geoffrey Grey

1960

New Born King, Gordon Jacob (not the above video is with piano accompaniment.

1960

O magnum mysterium, Peter Maxwell Davies

1. O magnum mysterium (treble solo)

2. Haylie, comley and clene

3. Sonata I: Puer Natus

4. O magnum mysterium (treble and solo)

5. Alleluia, pro Virgine Marai

6. Sonata II: Lux fugebit

7. The Fader of Heven

8. O magnum mysterium (full choir)

9. Organ Fantasia on 'O magnum mysterium'

Before 1963

Quatre Motets pour le Temps de Noël, Francis Poulenc

1. O magnum mysterium

2. Quem vidistis pastores dicte

3. Videntes stellam

4. Hodie Chistus natus est

1966

Five Carols, Peter Maxwell Davies

1967

Five Carols, Richard Rodney Bennett

1969

Cantata for Christmas, John Gardner

1970

Christmas Cantata Ein Krippenspiel aus Köröshegy, Weihnachtskantate (Nativity play of Köröshegy, Christmas cantata) edited in English, German, French, Hungarian, for narrator, mixed or children's choir, organ and instrumental ensemble (6 instruments) or orchestra (1970), Ferenc Farkas

1979

A Little Suite for Christmas, George Crumb

Little Suite For Christmas, A.D. 1979 George Crumb (*1929) after Giotto’s Nativity frescoes in the Arena Chapel at Padua I. The Visitation

II. Berceuse for the Infant Jesu

III. The Shepherd's Noël

IV. Adoration of the Magi

V. Nativity Dance

VI. Canticle of the Holy Night

VII. Carol of the Bells

1981 or sooner

Nativitas, Jean Belmont

1985

A Nativity, John Tavener

1987

God is with Us: A Christmas Proclamation, Johne Tavener

1989

Christ's Nativity for SATB and Organ, Iain Hamilton

1994

O magnum mysterium, Morten Lauridsen

1996

Christmas Fantasy Orgel-Variationen zur Weihnacht - Variations on Christmas Carols for Organ op. 46 (1996) - Hans Uwe Hielscher

1990

Partridge Pie, Richard Rodney Bennett

1990

Festive Cheer Medley, Arr. Roger Harvey

1991

Dansing Day (sic.), John Rutter

1992

A Christmas Bouquet, Alexander Courage

c. 1990. The dating of this is ambiguous in the liner notes.

Medley of Christmas Spirituals, arr. Joseph Jennings

1992

A Visit from St. Nicholas, Arranger: Joe Reisman

1996

Arthur Honegger: A Christmas Cantata (Une cantate de Noël)

1998

Isaiah 35 – Three Advent Carols (1998), Jonathan Rutherford
1. Rejoice, you barren land
2. The Sofferent thatte seeth evere seycrette
3. The Wilderness and the Solitary Place

1998

Three Christmas Carols for organ op. 49,
Hans Uwe Hielscher,
1. 00:00 Hark, the herald angels sing 2. 01:54 O little town of Bethlehem 3. 03:26 We wish you a Merry Christmas

1999 or sooner