Famously, Cromwell's interregnum prohibited all celebrations of the Christmas holiday. Like other customs associated with popular Catholic Christianity, it earned the disapproval of Protestant Puritans. Music in itself soon became one of the greatest tributes to Christmas, and Christmas music includes some of the noblest compositions of the great musicians.ĭuring the Commonwealth of England government under Cromwell, the Rump Parliament prohibited the practice of singing Christmas carols as Pagan and sinful. Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Audelay, a Shropshire priest and poet, who lists 25 "caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of wassailers, who went from house to house. From Italy, it passed to France and Germany, and later to England.
Later, the word carol came to mean a song in which a religious topic is treated in a style that is familiar or festive. In the Middle Ages, the English combined circle dances with singing and called them carols. The 13th century saw the rise of the carol written in the vernacular, under the influence of Francis of Assisi. The earliest examples are hymnographic works ( chants and litanies) intended for liturgical use in observance of both the Feast of the Nativity and Theophany, many of which are still in use by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Music was an early feature of the Christmas season and its celebrations. In the 16th century, various Christmas carols still sung to this day, including " The 12 Days of Christmas", " God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen", and " O Christmas Tree", first emerged. Christmas carols in the English language first appear in a 1426 work of John Awdlay, an English chaplain, who lists twenty five " caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of wassailers who would travel from house to house. By the 13th century, under the influence of Francis of Assisi, the tradition of popular Christmas songs in regional native languages developed. Music associated with Christmas is thought to have its origins in 4th-century Rome, in Latin-language hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium.
Elvis' Christmas Album (1957) by Elvis Presley is the best-selling Christmas album of all time, selling more than 20 million copies worldwide. These included songs aimed at children such as " Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" and " Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", as well as sentimental ballad-type songs performed by famous crooners of the era, such as " Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and " White Christmas", the latter of which remains the best-selling single of all time as of 2018. While most Christmas songs prior to 1930 were of a traditional religious character, the Great Depression era of the 1930s brought a stream of songs of American origin, most of which did not explicitly reference the Christian nature of the holiday, but rather the more secular traditional Western themes and customs associated with Christmas. Many songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the canon for other reasons.
Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject matter ranges from the nativity of Jesus Christ, to gift-giving and merrymaking, to cultural figures such as Santa Claus, among other topics. Christmas music being performed at a US Army Band concert in 2010Ĭhristmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season.
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