Christmas music is a big event for musicians, singers and everyone else. Special concerts, carol singing and big Church events all call for preparation and practice as early as October. Find sheet music, watch performances and learn the history of some of our richest musical heritage.
The music to Away in a Manger was composed by William J. Kirkpatrick in 1895. Gervaise Phinn remembers the words being more like “A Wayne in a Manger” and after inspecting primary schools around North Yorkshire he wrote a book with that title. There are two tunes that I know of but my favourite is [...]
“It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” is a poem and Christmas carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Weston, Massachusetts. It first appeared on December 29, 1849 in the Christian Register in Boston.
Sears is said to have written these words at the request of his friend, W. P. Lunt, a minister [...]
Words: Traditional; appeared in Christmas Carols, AnÂcient and MoÂdern, by William Sandys (London: Richard Beckley, 1833). Music: Adapted by RiÂchard W. AdÂams, 1999, from the melÂoÂdy in Sandys’ Christmas Carols, AnÂcient and MoÂdern.
I Saw Three Ships Lyrics
I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas day, on Christmas day;
I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas [...]
Phillip Brooks (1835-1893), an Episcopal priest, Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia, wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem” after visiting Bethlehem in 1865. His organist, Lewis Redner, added the music.
Redner’s tune, simply titled “St. Louis”, is the tune used most often for this carol in the United States. Meanwhile, the English tune [...]
The Holly and the Ivy
The version we of the Holly and the Ivy that we are familiar with today was first published by Cecil Sharp. The Holly and the Ivy is thought to have Pagan origins and could therefore date back over 1000 years. Holly and ivy are some of the few decorative evergreens and [...]
Words: English Traditional, 17th century. Music: Traditional English Wassail Song, 17th century
Here We Come A-Wassailing Lyrics
Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand’ring
So fair to be seen.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you
a Happy New Year
And God send you a Happy New [...]
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is a translation of a Catholic Latin text “Veni, veni, Emmanuel”. It was translated by John Mason Neale in the mid-19th century.
It is a metrical version of a collation of various Advent Antiphons (the acrostic O Antiphons). Antiphons are the responses which the congregation sings in Church. Acrostic means that [...]
The “Feast of Stephen” referred to in this song is celebrated on Boxing Day – 26th December – which is why it is celebrated as a carol. The legend of “Good King Wenceslas” is based on life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (907-935), known in the Czech language as Svatý Václav.
The [...]
Mary, Did You Know? is a Christmas song with lyrics written by Mark Lowry in 1984 and music written by Buddy Greene six years later. Santas Little Helper has heard this song performed by a women’s choir and thought it was very dramatic.
Mary, Did You Know? Lyrics
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one [...]
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is a very old carol, having been sung for many hundreds of years before being published in 1833. It is one of the features of Dicken’s Christmas Carol.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Lyrics
1. God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save [...]