Which is the most haunting/beautiful Christmas carol or song?

[A580Hojas]

I like the melodic slightly melancholy ones. Something in a minor key maybe?

SingingGoldfinch I had completely forgotten about Candlelight carol-I definitely know it so we must have sang it at school at some point, hearing it again made me 😢
I sing in a choir and we sang Coventry carol,O holy night and Carol of the bells at the weekend-love them although Carol of the bells leaves me needing oxygen!! 😆

Candlelight Carol is so beautiful isn't it Seashell80 - sorry for making you blub though - the words are so moving "How do you capture the wind on the water? How do you count all the stars in the sky? How can you measure the love of a mother? or how can you write down a baby's first cry"

Just love it!!!

I know what you mean about Carol of the Bells leaving you needing oxygen too! Not a lot of options on the breathing front!!

We're rehearsing Handel's Messiah in my choir at the moment and I have to say the chorus "for unto us a child is born" is my ultimate Christmas sing!

Ooh SingingGoldfinch what a lovely piece to get stuck into!
I think singing Christmas music is one of my favourite things-only came back to singing this year after a 20+year hiatus and did not realise quite how much I'd missed it 😊

Sweet Bells by Kate Rusby - couldn't link it last night.

I like Wintersong by Sarah Mclachlan

So many of my favourites on here!

I love the Christmas choral music - I used to be in a small chamber choir, and really looked forward to the autumn term rehearsals, because I knew we'd be starting to practise for the Christmas concert.

Sadly I have left now - a combination of toxic choir politics (people getting really nasty about a proposed change of rehearsal venue, and biting the heads off those of us who were in favour of it), and being utterly and totally hacked off by always singing boring alto parts - I am a second alto, and in my experience, we get the notes that are left over when the other parts have got either the tune (the sopranos) or an interesting harmony line. I know what we do is vital to the richness of the harmonies, but I simply was not enjoying any of the singing I was doing, so I left.

My all-time favourite classical Christmas piece is In Dulci Jubilo - the 8 part arrangement.

I also enjoy the Lauridsen pieces mentioned by an earlier poster, as well as the Carol of the Bells, Ring out Solstice Bells, and Gaudete. And I have a very soft spot for the cheesy Christmas pop too - basically I love pretty much all the Christmas music.

Bob Chilcott has composed some nice Christmas pieces too - but our Musical Director was a bit obsessed with him, and as a result we sang rather too much Chilcott for me, and I am all Chilcotted out!

@Vitology Yes, many times. The original w/Claudette Colbert is one of my favourite movies, but I'll watch the remake just to hear Mahalia.

Mary Did You Know? - gets me every time, also really love After December Slips Away. Is it too early to play some Christmas music.

@AcrossthePond55 Glad you saw it. I've not seen the original, so will have to take a look.

just wanted to thank everyone for all of these - updating my spotify for christmas now.

I think you'll like it @Vitology. It's not as 'soap opera-y' as the remake.

It is, however, a 'product of its time' so some of the stereotyping and relationship 'balances' are not what we would consider acceptable today. That being said, I find the original much more moving than the remake.

Sounds like I'm gonna need an even bigger box of tissues then!

Lovely thread OP

It came upon the midnight clear - such lovely lyrics.
Oh come oh come Emmanuel,
In the bleak midwinter
Coventry.

If I have to hear any more Slade, jingle bloody bells. or Baby it's cold outside I may just kill someone. Thanks fuck I've finished most of my shopping

Another descant fan here - particularly the lovely clash on the last "herald" in Hark the Herald Angels.

I love the candlelight carol too - as a mother I find it has extra resonance; how indeed can you write down a baby's first cry!

Love in the bleak midwinter too - doing the solo verse at my choir's carol concert in a few weeks so I hope to do it justice!

'Quelle est cette odeur agreable' has an English version, 'Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing'. I remember singing it in the church choir many years ago.

I know the tune of Angel Tidings (lyrics by John Rutter) from the Polish carols my grandparents used to play. There's one or two others there I'd like to track down. I can hum the tunes but can't quote the Polish titles. One of them has a 'Gloria, gloria, gloria, in excelsis Deo' refrain.

STDG I sympathise about being second alto; it's like playing double bass or tuba in the orchestra. As a slightly 'stretchy' mezzo I often used to vacillate between soprano and alto, mostly because I can't do low alto or really high soprano, but also because when I was younger alto was so effing tedious and I wanted a go at the tune!

i dont even know what the song is called but the lyrics are something about an alien coming down

the chorus is:

lalalalalalalalalalala thats the sound of music when babies cry

no idea the lyrics probably so wrong

UnaOfStormhold-great name BTW
I find a lot of carols take on new meaning now I'm a mum! I've always been a bit emosh over music but now it's next level 😆
Good luck with your solo 👍🏻

@selepele A Spaceman Comes Travelling - Chris de Burgh?

*came

I really love a Christmas carol that I can't remember (if that makes sense).
It has an m in the title and sounds beautiful in a church but it's not it came upon a midnight clear.
Any suggestions of what it.might be are welcome as it's driving me nuts!

What a wonderful thread I shall continue going through them later. It's made me want to find a carol service now.

Any of these, @Bubblysqueak?

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
In the Bleak Midwinter.
Mary’s Boy Child.
As with gladness men of old.
Ding dong merrily on high.

Or, a slightly off-tangent suggestion -

O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

No, I've just listened to them and it's not them. I've also tried it came upon a midnight clear which although is beautiful, it's not the one I'm thinking if.

It's infuriating! I can't even remember the tune . I just remember being sat in church at a carol concert and being brought to tears by this song.

I'm not 100% sure but I think it had an odd word in the title.

Sorry I'm really not much help!

O Holy Night.

Beautiful beautiful carol.