Famous Christmas Carols

"It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" is a poem and Christmas carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Weston, Massachusetts.http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/e/sears_eh.htm It first appeared on December 29, 1849 in the Christian Register in Boston.It Came upon the Midnight Clear

Sears is said to have written these words at the request of his friend, W. P. Lunt, a minister in Quincy, Massachusetts. In 1850 Richard Storrs Willis, a composer who trained under Felix Mendelssohn, wrote the melody called "Carol". "Carol" is the most widely known tune to the song in the USAThe United Methodist Hymnal, © 1989Lutheran Book of Worship, © 1978The official Unitarian-Universalist hymnal, "Singing the Living Tradition", © 1993. In the UK the tune called "Noel", which was adapted from an English melody in 1874 by Arthur Sullivan, is the usual accompaniment.

In 1981, Swedish dansband singer Stefan Borsch covered the song in Swedish, as "Jag ser en stjärna på himmelen" ("I see a star in the sky") on the album "I kväll jag tänder ett ljus".

In 2003, a recording of the song by Sixpence None the Richer was released on the Christmas compilation album, Maybe This Christmas Too? (label: Nettwerk) "www.amazon.com/Maybe-This-Christmas-Various-Artists"

In 2006, a recording of the song by Daryl Hall & John Oates hit number one on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart."Fred Bronson, Chart Beat, December 21, 2006", billboard.com

"Joy to the World" is a popular Christmas carol.

The words are by English hymn writer Isaac Watts, based on Psalm 98 in the Bible. The song was first published in 1719 in Watts' collection; The Psalms of David: Imitated in the language of the New Testament, and applied to the Christian state and worship. Watts wrote the words of "Joy to the World" as a hymn glorifying Christ's triumphant return at the end of the age,Joy to the world! the Lord is come! at Hymnary.org rather than a Christmas song celebrating his first coming as a babe born in a stable. Only the second half of Watts' lyrics are still used today.Joy to the World!, Worship Leader magazine

The music was adapted and arranged to Watts' lyrics by Lowell Mason in 1839 from an older melody which was then believed to have originated from Handel, not least because the theme of the refrain (And heaven and nature sing...) appears in the orchestra opening and accompaniment of the recitative Comfort Ye from Handel's Messiah, and the first four notes match the beginning of the choruses Lift up your heads and Glory to God from the same oratorio. However, Handel did not compose the entire tune.Handelian FAQs

As of the late 20th century, "Joy to the World" was the most-published Christmas hymn in North America.It was published in 1,387 hymnals in North America before 1979, as recorded in the Dictionary of North American Hymnology. Top 20 Christmas hymns cited at Hymnary.org.

"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is a Christmas hymn or carol written by Charles Wesley, brother of the Methodist movement founder John Wesley. It first appeared in Hymns and Sacred Poems in 1739,Hymns and sacred poems, Bristol, 1743, p. 142. under the topic of "Hymn for Christmas-Day". The original opening couplet was "Hark! how all the welkin rings / Glory to the King of Kings". The version known today is the result of alterations by various hands, most notably George Whitefield, Wesley's co-worker, who changed the opening couplet to the familiar one we know today.

"O Holy Night" ("Cantique de Noël") is a well-known Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" (Midnight, Christians) by Placide Cappeau (1808?1877), a wine merchant and poet. Cappeau was asked by a parish priest to write a Christmas poem. It has become a standard modern carol for solo performance with an operatic finish.

Category: File - :Juletræet.jpg|thumb|"Your branches green delight us"

"O Tannenbaum", or, in its English version, "O Christmas Tree", is a Christmas carol of German origin.

A Tannenbaum is a fir tree (German die Tanne) or Christmas tree (der Weihnachtsbaum). Its evergreen qualities have long inspired musicians to write several "Tannenbaum" songs in German.

The best known version was written in 1824 by the Leipzig organist, teacher and composer Ernst Anschütz. The melody is an old folk tune. The first known "Tannenbaum" song lyrics date back to 1550. A similar 1615 song by Melchior Franck (1573-1639) begins:

:Ach Tannenbaum, ach Tannenbaum, du bist ein edler Zweig! Du grünest uns den Winter, die liebe Sommerzeit.

During the Third Reich "O Tannenbaum" was promoted by the Nazis as part of their program to remove the more Christian parts of Christmas.Wilhelm Beilstein, "Wie wir Weihnachten feiern," N.S.-Briefe, December 1939, pp. 327?328. The section is reprinted from Beilstein's Lichtfeier. Sinn, Geschichte, Brauch und Feier der deutschen Weihnacht (Munich: Category: :de - :Deutscher Volksverlag|Deutscher Volksverlag, 1939).

Category: File - :Pierpont Jingle Bells Savannah.jpg|thumb|350px|The commemorative plaque for James Lord Pierpont and his Jingle Bells in Savannah, Georgia

"Jingle Bells" is one of the best known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822?1893) and copyrighted under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" on September 16, 1857. Despite being inextricably connected to Christmas, it is not specifically a Christmas song.