Unsung Christmas carols and other music

[Christopher]

Would there be snorts of derision if I started a thread on unsung Christmas carols and other Christmas music?

What, in this context, is unsung?

I would hazard a guess that the majority of members on here are from English-speaking countries. The canon of English-language carols, sung year after year and well loved, are known to most.  But I am very curious to know what their equivalents are in other countries with a Christmas tradition. And moreover if they would have the same resonance to our ears as they do in their home countries. 

I don't think I could name a single French, Italian or Spanish carol. Or German, apart from Stille Nacht. I do know some Ukrainian ones and find them very beautiful.

I don't think downloads are necessary as I am sure most carols, if they are popular in other countries, will be on youtube - so I suggest just posting up youtube links.  And of course links to lesser-known English-language carols are most welcome too if anyone thinks they are unjustly neglected.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I think Vaughan Williams' Hodie is unjustly neglected.

[Christopher]

Ukraine

"Shcho to za predivo" ("Oh what a miracle") - music by Vasyl Barvinsky (1888-1963)
- a capella version - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ8TTw7IEdc
- with orchestra -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6anVr0jln0

"Nova Rada" ("A New Joy") - traditional - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTm5N8rS-4c - sung here by the incomparable Ivan Kozlovsky.

"Dobri vecher tobi, pane gospodaryu" ("Good evening to you, sir host) - traditional - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_FVTmoFbCs

"Po wsemu swetu" ("All over the world") - traditional - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyETGQDKP7c  (from 2m30s to 4m56s)

"Mnogaya leta" ("May you live for many years") - traditional - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dk71J1Wc2rg

[jimsemadeni]

French: two beautiful ones--"Il est né, le divin enfant" and "Un flambeau, Jeanette, Isabelle" (Bring a torch, Jeanette, Isabella).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwGm2vtYB_Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7r8o477iT4

[MartinH]

One of my personal favorites is In the Bleak Midwinter by Gustav Holst. Not unsung in Great Britain I'm sure, but in the US it was very rarely performed until suddenly it started popping up everywhere. It's now even used in an advertisement for the ASPCA. I don't know what caused the surge of popularity. Two years ago I made an arrangement for chamber orchestra and many players commented on what a beautiful tune it is and that they had never heard it before.

[kolaboy]

Two of my favorite French carols...

A LA NOËL, A LA MINUIT      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuxVR4xRvqc
Entre le boeuf et l'âne gris    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIBYxkG2yX0

Every year - around Christmas time - I try to find additional French carols that I've not heard before... I wish I had asked my grandfather back when he was still alive (originally from Quebec).

[Simon]

How about one by French composer Augusta Holmes, TROIS ANGES SONT VENUS CE SOIR (is it known outside of French-speaking countries? - kolaboy, I'm in Quebec City btw, so if you need help let me know!).

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a2h-czxJO8s

[kolaboy]

Thanks, Simon. I sent you a personal message

[Christopher]

Thank you MartinH.  Is your arrangement available anywhere to listen to? It would be very interesting to hear it.  The other setting is by Edwin Darke isn't it?

[adriano]

There are three charming French Christmas songs in the ancient style by Respighi (mezzo-soprano and piano) entitled "Noël ancien" I and II, composed between 1904 and 1912, on ancient French texts. I've arranged them for a wind group including flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon and trombone. To the alternate version of one of these (with totally different music) I have set a new text of my own (also in the old French style).

[Christopher]

Given the time of year, I thought I would re-open this thread.  I really liked the pieces that were named two years ago and they are now firmly in my ipod, and I wonder if people might have discovered more unsung Christmas carols/music, particularly from non-"Anglo" countries, since then.

[scottevan]

Yes, indeed... a Christmas or so ago I discovered the excellent album "Sacrum Mysterium" by Apollo's Fire, which is full of traditional Celtic carols from both the British Isles and the Breton region. I can't recall hearing any of them in the usual caroling context, or at holiday concerts. Well worth a listen.

The largest collection of (mostly unsung) traditional Christmas and Winter Solstice music I've come across are those performed by the Christmas Revels, originally from Cambridge, MA, and since spread far and wide to many cities. These were given as live stage performances, often using local choruses. I found the performance quality always good, and usually grouped by region: Scandanavian, Celtic, E. European, S. American, etc. Highlights of each year's Revels used to be broadcast by NPR stations in the U.S., but not, I regret, for the past few years. But I've found numerous excerpts on YouTube, and their albums are readily available.

[scottevan]

A p.s. (it is Christmas, after all.)

Since French carols were mentioned, I can recommend a compilation, "Les Plus Beaux Chants de Noel", which sounds as if it were mostly recorded in the 1940's and '50's.  It features wonderful singers of the time: Jean Lumiere, Tino Rossi, Georges Thill, etc. It's a mix of traditional French carols and vintage songs you could well have heard on French radio in that era. One of my favorite Christmas albums.

Joyeux Noel!

[alberto]

At the " Christmas Concert" held in Teatro Regio Torino some days ago was performed Lullaby from Vaughan Williams "Hodie" for treble chorus and orchestra.
BTW the other works for the same medium were by John Rutter and Leroy Anderson.

[Revilod]

Thank you MartinH.  Is your arrangement available anywhere to listen to? It would be very interesting to hear it.  The other setting is by Edwin Darke isn't it?

The other setting is by Harold Darke. I live near Exeter in Devon and Darke dedicated his setting to a friend of mine's grandmother in 1909. He still has the manuscript. My friend told me, " In the first published edition, verse three says "a heart full of mirth" to prevent my grandmother grabbing her smelling salts if the correct words "a breast full of milk" had been used.  Subsequent editions used the correct words.  Harold, a most delightful friend, subsequently dedicated twenty-five further compositions to my grandmother and her children."

In the U.K. Darke's setting is as well known as Holst's though it is less suited to congregational singing. It is, perhaps, an even more beautiful melody.