Editing Christmas music (section)

==Classical music==
[[File:DSC 2693 (11406583246).jpg|thumb|Classical concerts are popular at Christmas, such as this performance in a church in Sweden.]]
Many large-scale religious compositions are performed in a concert setting at Christmas. Performances of [[George Frideric Handel]]'s [[oratorio]] ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]'' are a fixture of Christmas celebrations in some countries,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/16/handels-messiah-classic-appeal-christmas |title=Messiah complex: why it's a joy to sing Handel's classic every Christmas |last=Whittall |first=Richard |date=December 16, 2014 |website=The Guardian |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010094558/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/16/handels-messiah-classic-appeal-christmas |archive-date=October 10, 2019 |access-date=October 10, 2019}}</ref> and although it was originally written for performance at [[Easter]], it covers aspects of the Biblical Christmas narrative.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540/ |title=The Glorious History of Handel's Messiah |last=Kandell |first=Jonathan |website=Smithsonian |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010095502/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540/ |archive-date=October 10, 2019 |access-date=October 10, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.london-handel-festival.com/about-handel/messiah/ |title=Messiah – London Handel Festival |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010095647/https://www.london-handel-festival.com/about-handel/messiah/ |archive-date=October 10, 2019 |access-date=October 10, 2019}}</ref> Informal [[Scratch Messiah]] performances involving public participation are very popular in the Christmas season.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/hallelujah-it-s-song-time-6890943.html |title=Hallelujah! It's song time |last=Lebrecht |first=Norman |author-link=Norman Lebrecht |date=March 25, 2009 |website=London Evening Standard |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010100417/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/hallelujah-it-s-song-time-6890943.html |archive-date=October 10, 2019 |access-date=October 10, 2019}}</ref> [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]'s ''[[Christmas Oratorio]]'' ({{Lang|de|Weihnachts-Oratorium}}, {{nowrap|BWV 248}}), written for Christmas 1734, describes the [[birth of Jesus]], the annunciation to the shepherds, the [[adoration of the shepherds]], the [[Feast of the Circumcision of Christ|circumcision and naming of Jesus]], the journey of the [[Magi]], and the adoration of the Magi.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.classicfm.com/composers/bach/music/christmas-oratorio/ |title=Bach - Christmas Oratorio |website=Classic FM |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320092732/http://www.classicfm.com/composers/bach/music/christmas-oratorio/ |archive-date=March 20, 2016 |access-date=October 10, 2019}}</ref> [[Antonio Vivaldi]] composed the Violin Concerto RV270 "''Il Riposo per il Santissimo Natale''" ("For the Most Holy Christmas"). [[Arcangelo Corelli]] composed the ''[[Christmas Concerto (Corelli)|Christmas Concerto]]'' in 1690. [[Peter Cornelius]] composed a cycle of six songs related to Christmas themes he called ''[[Weihnachtslieder, Op. 8 (Cornelius)|Weihnachtslieder]]''. Setting his own poems for solo voice and piano, he alluded to older Christmas carols in the accompaniment of two of the songs.

Other classical works associated with Christmas include:

* [[Marc-Antoine Charpentier]], 9 vocal settings and 2 instrumental settings :
** ''Messe de Minuit'' H.9 for soloists, choir, flûtes, strings and bc (1690)
** ''In nativitatem Domini canticum'' H.314 for 4 voices, 2 flutes, 2 violins and bc (1670)
** ''Canticum in nativitatem Domini'' H.393 for 3 voies, 2 treeble instruments and bc (1675)
** ''Pastorale de Noël'' H.414 for soloists, choir, 2 treeble instruments and bc (1683–85)
** ''Oratorio de Noël'' H.416 for soloists, choir, flutes, strings and bc (1690)
** ''Dialogus inter angelos et pastores Judae in nativitatem Domini'' H.420 for soloists, choir, flutes, strings and bc (1695?)
** ''In nativitate Domini Nostri Jesu Christi canticum'' H.421 for 3 voices and bc (1698–99)
** ''Pastorale de Noël'' H.482 for soloists, choir, 2 treeble viols and bc (1683–85)
** ''Pastorale de Noël'' H.483 H.483 a H.483 b for soloists, choir, 2 flutes, 2 treeble viols and bc (1683–85)
** ''Noël pour les instruments'' H.531 for flutes, strings and bc (1688?)
** ''Noël sur les instruments'' H.534 for flutes, strings and bc (1698)
* ''[[Christus (Mendelssohn)|Christus]]'' (1847) an unfinished oratorio by [[Felix Mendelssohn]]
* ''[[L'enfance du Christ]]'' (1853–54) by [[Hector Berlioz]]
* ''[[Oratorio de Noël]]'' (1858) by [[Camille Saint-Saëns]]
* ''[[The Nutcracker]]'' (1892) by [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fisher |first=J. |title=Nutcracker Nation: How an Old World Ballet Became a Christmas Tradition in the New World |url=https://archive.org/details/nutcrackernation00jenn |url-access=registration |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2003 |location=New Haven}}</ref>
* ''[[Fantasia on Christmas Carols]]'' (1912) and ''[[Hodie]]'' (1954), both by [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]]
* ''[[A Ceremony of Carols]]'' (1942) by [[Benjamin Britten]].