Adolphe Adam (1803-1856) was a French composer best known for the ballet Giselle and the Christmas carol O Holy Night. He also wrote many works for the Paris Opera and taught at the Paris Conservatory ...

This is John Sullivan Dwight’s translation from 1855. He was a Unitarian minister and a schoolmaster at the Brook Farm commune who went on to become America’s first influential music critic. That ...

While I can no longer remember who said it and in which class, I recall being taught in seminary that we learn much of our theology from hymn writers. And, at least for me, there is no greater season ...

I am plenty sentimental about Christmas songs from the 20th century, songs like “White Christmas” and “Winter Wonderland” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time,” but the Christmas songs that have sent ...

Caruso, Bjorling, Pavarotti, Carreras, Domingo, Alagna, Kaufmann, Florez and (Eric) Cartman. One of these things is not like the other, ‘tis true, but there is one way in which they are kind of the ...

It’s a notorious fact that O Holy Night, the most reverent of Christmas hymns, was created by a man of little piety, who ultimately preferred socialism to Christianity. Or at least that was true of ...

In the fall of 1847, a French wine merchant, Placide Cappeau, was asked by his local priest to write a Christmas poem. Not long after, Placide Cappeau showed this poem, “Minuit, chrétiens,” to the ...