A music expert fills you in on the the appealing history of Christmas carols.
As a pop culture phenomenon, Christmas music is ubiquitous—some might say inescapable as the holiday draws near. Pop stars of all stripes release Christmas albums. Christmas music plays constantly in stores and restaurants.
Though the history of Christmas carols spans almost 2,000 years, the progression of these songs took some interesting turns through the centuries.
“While popular music constantly evolves, Christmas music stands out for its remarkable stability and enduring appeal,” says Ariana Wyatt, a professor of voice with the Virginia Tech College of Architecture, Arts, and Design.
Here, Wyatt digs into the factors granting Christmas carols such widespread appeal:
One hundred years ago, did Christmas music enjoy this same level of ubiquitousness?
Music has accompanied Christmas celebrations since the earliest days of Christianity. While carols trace back to medieval times, the form we recognize today took shape during the Victorian era.
Before then, carols were shared orally and often adapted repeatedly, paring old melodies with new words. In the 1800s, carols were finally written down and published, sparking a revival across England and Europe and inspiring a surge in hymn writing. Publication made carols easier to translate, adapt, and spread among different cultures. Singing groups, often referred to as ‘waits,’ brought cheer to neighborhoods while collecting donations for churches, and Christmas hymns became a staple of worship services.
The reach of song expanded again with the invention of recorded sound, allowing music to be captured, broadcast, and purchased for home use. From the first surviving recording in 1898, Christmas songs and carols gained global popularity. So, roughly 100 years ago, Christmas songs and carols were being performed, recorded, and broadcast around the world just as they are today.
How did caroling originate?
Caroling dates to the earliest days of Christianity. The first recognized Christmas carol, ‘Angels’ Hymn,’ from 129 AD, marked the shift from pagan winter solstice songs to music celebrating Christ’s birth. Throughout the Middle Ages, familiar pagan melodies were paired with new Christian lyrics, sung both inside and outside churches. In the 1200s, St. Francis of Assisi helped popularize Christmas carols, nativity scenes, and plays by introducing verses in the local vernacular. Before this shift, hymns were sung exclusively in Latin, a language most people could not understand, making this change a turning point in making Christmas music accessible to all.
Outside of the church, Chaucer’s writings and the epic poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” reference lively community caroling, showing that Christmas music has long thrived in both sacred and secular settings and is remarkably similar in context centuries later.
Are there songs that stand out as landmarks in the development of Christmas music into the massive commercial endeavor it is today?
Modern commercial Christmas music began with Bing Crosby’s iconic recording of “White Christmas,” broadcast just 18 days after Pearl Harbor on Christmas Day in 1941. This song introduced a new genre built around nostalgia for Christmases past and hope for Christmas present.
Remarkably, most of today’s secular Christmas classics were written between 1940 and 1970. Post–World War II economic growth fueled songs that openly celebrated the commercial side of the holiday—gifts, shopping, and Santa Claus. A third category also emerged with Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas”—romantic Christmas songs set against winter backdrops. The most famous of these, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” remains the best-selling Christmas record of the 21st century over 30 years after its release.
Source: Virginia Tech
