Song of the season just dropped, everyone. Listen to it and repost it or Michelle Obama will make you sit on his lap and ask you what you want for Kwanza. https://t.co/pEsTWc3LJa
— Jerry Courtney (@jerry_courtney) December 15, 2024
CHRISTIAN COMPOSERS OF CHRISTMAS MUSIC
1751, "O Come, All Ye Faithful," also known as "Adeste Fideles", is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and anonymous Cistercian monks. The earliest printed version is in a book published by Wade. A manuscript by Wade, dating to 1751, is held by Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.
1818, "Silent Night," Joseph Mohr, Austrian.
1843, "O Holy Night," written in 1843 by poet Placide Cappeau, was set to music by composer Adolphe Adam. The English version, with small changes to the initial melody, is by John Sullivan Dwight.
1849, "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" is an 1849 poem and Christmas carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts. In 1850, Sears' lyrics were set to "Carol", a tune written for the poem the same year at his request, by Richard Storrs Willis. This pairing remains the most popular in the United States, while in Commonwealth countries, the lyrics are set to "Noel", a later adaptation by Arthur Sullivan from an English melody.
1857, "Jingle Bells," written by James Lord Pierpont.
1861, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," "O come, O come, Emmanuel" (Latin: "Veni, veni, Emmanuel") is a Christian hymn for Advent, which is also often published in books of Christmas carols. The text was originally written in Latin. It is a metrical paraphrase of the O Antiphons, a series of plainchant antiphons attached to the Magnificat at Vespers over the final days before Christmas. The hymn has its origins over 1,200 years ago in monastic life in the 8th or 9th century. Seven days before Christmas Eve monasteries would sing the “O antiphons” in anticipation of Christmas Eve when the eighth antiphon, “O Virgo virginum” (“O Virgin of virgins”) would be sung before and after Mary's canticle, the Magnificat (Luke 1:46b–55). The Latin metrical form of the hymn was composed as early as the 12th century.
1868, "O, Little Town of Bethlehem," Phillips Brooks.
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JEWISH COMPOSERS OF CHRISTMAS MUSIC
John David Marks, 1909-1985, was an American songwriter, who specialized in Christmas songs and wrote many holiday standards, including . . .
1942, "White Christmas" written by Irving Berlin, 1942, for the movie Holiday Inn.
1945, "The Christmas Song," Mel Torme and Robert Wells.
1948, "Sleigh Ride."
1949, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (a hit for Gene Autry and others);
1950, "Silver Bells," debuted in the motion picture The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), where it was started by William Frawley, then sung in the generally known version immediately thereafter by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell.
1953, "Santa Baby."
1956, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", was written in 1863 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and composed for music by John Marks in 1956 (introduced by Bing Crosby).
1958, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958.
1964, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (a hit for Brenda Lee);
1964, "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (recorded by the Quinto Sisters and later by Burl Ives);
1964, "Silver and Gold"(for Burl Ives).
