Editing Christmas music (section)

==Christmas carols==
{{Main|Christmas carol}}
{{See also|List of Christmas carols}}
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2021}}
[[File:A choir of Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum staff members sing carols in the central hall of the Natural History Museum 02.jpg|thumb|Museum staff singing Christmas carols in the [[Natural History Museum, London]]]]
Songs which are traditional, even some without a specific religious context, are often called [[Christmas carol]]s. Each of these has a rich history, some dating back many centuries.

===Standards===
A popular set of traditional carols that might be heard at any Christmas-related event include:<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www3.pair.com/montrsmu/carolslist.html |title=Carol Histories and Track List |publisher=pair.com |access-date=December 18, 2011}}</ref>
<ref name="things_2014_12_13_byu_edu">Burchett, Sarah: [https://universe.byu.edu/2014/12/13/13-things-you-didnt-know-about-your-favorite-christmas-songs/ "13 things you didn’t know about your favorite Christmas songs,"] December 13, 2014, ''[[The Daily Universe]],'' [[Brigham Young University]], retrieved December 8, 2023</ref><ref name="classics_2012_12_14_rutgers_edu">Stetler, Carrie: [https://www.rutgers.edu/news/christmas-song-classics-why-some-tunes-endure "Christmas Song Classics: Why Some Tunes Endure,"] December 14, 2012, ''[[Rutgers Today]],'' [[Rutgers University]], retrieved December 8, 2023</ref>
{{listen
 | type         = music
 | filename     = Christmas_music2004.ogg
 | title        = 'A collection of traditional Christmas music'
 | description  = performed by James D. Blodget on a Roland U-20 synthesizer, December 23, 2004.
 | format       = [[Ogg]]
 | filename2    = Joy-to-the-World_KB.ogg
 | title2       = "Joy to the World"
 | description2 = Performed a cappella by Kim Butler on December 15, 2006.
 | format2      = [[Ogg]]
 | filename3    = I_Saw_Three_Ships.ogg
 | title3       = "I Saw Three Ships"
 | description3 = Tune of traditional English Christmas carol transcribed by CambridgeBayWeather.
 | format3      = [[Ogg]]
 | filename4    = El Noi de la Mare (guitar).ogg
 | title4       = "El Noi de la Mare"
 | description4 = A traditional [[Catalonia|Catalan]] Christmas carol, arranged for guitar.
 | format4      = [[Ogg]]
}}

* "[[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 (song)|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 Tannenbaum|O Christmas Tree]]" (''O Tannenbaum'')
* "[[Adeste Fideles|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 Nach''t)
* "[[The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)|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]]"

[[File:Kolędnicy 2008.JPG|thumb|Carol singers in festive costume in Poland]]
These songs hearken from centuries ago, the oldest ("Wexford Carol") originating in the 12th century. The newest came together in the mid- to late-19th century. Many began in non-English speaking countries, often with non-Christmas themes, and were later converted into English carols with English lyrics added—not always translated from the original, but newly created—sometimes as late as the early 20th century.{{Citation needed|date=June 2017}}

===Early secular Christmas songs===
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2022}}
Among the earliest secular Christmas songs was "[[The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)|The Twelve Days of Christmas]]", which first appeared in 1780 in England, though its melody would not come until 1909.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anonymous |url=https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n3/mode/2up |title=Mirth Without Mischief |date=1800}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Frederic Austin |url=https://archive.org/details/austin_1909 |title=The Twelve Days of Christmas |date=1909-01-01}}</ref> The English West Country carol "[[We Wish You a Merry Christmas]]" has antecedents dating to the 1830s but was not published in its modern form until Arthur Warrell introduced it to a wider audience in 1935. As the secular mythos of the holiday (such as [[Santa Claus]] in his modern form) emerged in the 19th century, so too did secular Christmas songs. [[Benjamin Hanby]]'s "[[Up on the House Top]]" and [[Emily Huntington Miller]]'s "[[Jolly Old Saint Nicholas]]" were among the first explicitly secular Christmas songs in the United States, both dating to the 1860s; they were preceded by "[[Jingle Bells]]", written in 1857 but not explicitly about Christmas, and "[[O Tannenbaum|O Christmas Tree]]," written in 1824 but only made about a Christmas tree after being translated from its original German.

===Published Christmas music===
[[File:Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1954.jpg|thumb|[[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] (1872–1958), a British composer who helped to popularise many medieval and folk carols for the modern age<ref name="Heffer" />]]
Christmas music has been published as [[sheet music]] for centuries. One of the earliest collections of printed Christmas music was ''[[Piae Cantiones]]'', a Finnish songbook first published in 1582 which contained a number of songs that have survived today as well-known Christmas carols. The publication of Christmas music books in the 19th century, such as ''Christmas Carols, New and Old'' ([[Henry Ramsden Bramley|Bramley]] and [[John Stainer|Stainer]], 1871), played an important role in widening the popular appeal of carols.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Studwell |first1=William E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae7mH0jR_k4C&q=oxford%20book%20of%20carols%20vaughan%20williams&pg=PA51 |title=Publishing Glad Tidings : Essays on Christmas Music |last2=Jones |first2=Dorothy E. |date=1998 |publisher=Haworth Press |isbn=9780789003980 |location=New York [u.a.] |access-date=October 11, 2016}}</ref> In the 20th century, [[Oxford University Press]] (OUP) published some highly successful Christmas music collections such as ''[[The Oxford Book of Carols]]'' ([[Martin Shaw]], [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] and [[Percy Dearmer]], 1928), which revived a number of early folk songs and established them as modern standard carols.<ref name="Heffer">{{Cite book |last=Heffer |first=Simon |title=Vaughan Williams |date=2014 |publisher=Faber & Faber |isbn=9780571315482 |chapter=3. A Search for a Style |access-date=October 10, 2016 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eFGzAwAAQBAJ&q=oxford%20book%20of%20carols%20vaughan%20williams&pg=PT47}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordbookofcaro00dear |title=The Oxford Book of Carols |date=1964 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780193533158 |editor-last=Shaw |editor-first=Martin |location=Oxford |editor-last2=Dearmer |editor-first2=Percy |editor-last3=Vaughan Williams |editor-first3=Ralph |url-access=registration}}</ref> This was followed by the bestselling ''[[Carols for Choirs]]'' series ([[David Willcocks]], [[Reginald Jacques]] and [[John Rutter]]), first published in 1961 and now available in a five volumes. The popular books have proved to be a popular resource for choirs and church congregations in the English-speaking world, and remain in print today.<ref name="morris-obit-telegraph">{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11444855/Christopher-Morris-musician-obituary.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11444855/Christopher-Morris-musician-obituary.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Christopher Morris, musician - obituary |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=October 4, 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

* ''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]]'' published a poll of the "50 Greatest Carols", compiled from the views of choral experts and choirmasters in the UK and the US. The resulting list of the top ten favored Christmas carols and [[motet]]s was:<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leach |first=Ben |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/3631068/In-the-Bleak-Midwinter-voted-greatest-carol-of-all-time.html |title=In the Bleak Midwinter voted greatest carol of all time |date=December 7, 2008 |work=The Telegraph |access-date=October 4, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320174325/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/3631068/In-the-Bleak-Midwinter-voted-greatest-carol-of-all-time.html |archive-date=March 20, 2017 |location=London}}</ref><ref name="bbc-pr">{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2008/11_november/in_the_bleak_midwinter.shtml |title=BBC Press Office - In The Bleak Midwinter hits top spot as greatest carol ever |publisher=BBC |access-date=October 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004081048/https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2008/11_november/in_the_bleak_midwinter.shtml |archive-date=October 4, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.classical-music.com/issue/december-2008 |title=A Christmas special: 50 Greatest Carols |date=December 2008 |work=BBC Music Magazine |access-date=October 4, 2019}}</ref>

# "[[In the Bleak Midwinter]]" – [[Harold Darke]]
# "[[In Dulci Jubilo]]" – traditional
# "[[A Spotless Rose]]" – [[Herbert Howells]]
# "[[Bethlehem Down]]" – [[Peter Warlock]]
# "[[Coventry Carol|Lully, Lulla]]" – traditional
# "[[Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day]]"
# "[[Trinity Carol Roll|There Is No Rose]]" - traditional (15th c.)
# "[[O Come, All Ye Faithful]]"
# "[[Of the Father's Heart Begotten]]"
# "What Sweeter Music" – [[John Rutter]]