Christmas Classical
A holiday classical bucket for repertory that moves between chapel and concert hall: Bach’s liturgical grandeur, Handel’s public-season lift, and later winter favorites that have become part of the December atmosphere.
Origins and context
The genre grew out of Christian liturgical music and vernacular carol traditions in Europe, especially music written for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany services.
The sound
Characteristics
- Choir
- Orchestra
- Organ
- Strings
- Brass
- Solo voices
History
The roots of the repertoire stretch back to early Christian hymnody and the medieval carol tradition, which grew across Europe in church and community settings. By the 16th and 17th centuries, composers were writing liturgical and concert works for the Nativity season, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, composed for the 1734–35 Christmas season, sits near the center of that tradition. Later holiday staples such as Handel’s Messiah and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker helped widen the seasonal classical canon beyond the church, giving the genre both a sacred and a concert-hall life.
Notable artists
- JSJohann Sebastian Bach
- GFGeorge Frideric Handel
- PIPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Essential listening
- 1
Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248
Johann Sebastian Bach; John Eliot Gardiner; Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists
- 2
Messiah, HWV 56
George Frideric Handel; Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Nicholas McGegan; U.C. Berkeley Chamber Chorus
- 3
Bach: Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio)
René Jacobs; RIAS Kammerchor; Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
