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| Home » Types of Christmas songs » Traditional Christmas Songs |
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Traditional Christmas Songs
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Christmas carols or noëls are hymns that are sung during Christmas. The lyrics of these songs or hymns are based on Christmas, the Christ or the winter season in general. Christmas songs are traditionally sung during the period before Christmas. The whole tradition of singing carols dates back to as far as the thirteenth century, although carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations like harvest tide as well as Christmas. Carols began to be sung in church much later and began to be specifically associated with Christmas.
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Most traditional Christmas songs have a strong tune and consist of a verse and/or chorus for group singing. The Christmas hymns are based on medieval chord patterns, and it is this that gives them their uniquely characteristic musical sound. The origin of some Christmas songs such as Personent hodie' and 'Angels from the Realms of Glory' can be traced directly back to the Middle Ages, and are amongst the oldest musical compositions still regularly sung. The popularity of carols declined a bit after the Reformation. The countries where Reformation settled discouraged the singing of Christmas carols even though prominent Reformers like Martin Luther authored carols and encouraged their use in worship. However, the carols and hymns survived in the rural communities until the revival of interest in Carols in the 19th century. The first print appearance of "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen", "The First Nowell, the angel did say", "I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In" and Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was in "Christmas
Carols Ancient and Modern" (1833) by William B. Sandys.
Nowadays most carols are sung at Christian religious services. Many of the compositions contain words that are clearly not of a religious theme, but are often still referred to as "carols."
For more information on Christmas songs go to christmasmusichub.com.
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