Holiday music is a great way to start the festive spirit and celebrate the new year, but many do not give much thought to why holiday sounds are rich and vibrant, or how it all began. The beginning of the recorded history of holiday music starts way back in the year 129 CE, where the first carols were recorded, then called the “Angel’s Hymn.” Centuries later, it would be spread by a Roman bishop, who believed it should be sung during Christmas service in Rome; this inspired many carols that came about in those times. Later, Europe would take great influence from Rome’s carols, and Italy would eventually help spread and establish these carols globally.

 During the pre-1700s, one of the first Christmas songs was made by unknown artists, songs like “What Child Is This?” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel.” By the 1700s, Christmas songs were rising in popularity. This is largely thanks to George Frideric Handel, who published a carol book for Christmas around 1710-1720. Notable songs that appeared during this time were “Joy to the World,” “Angels We Have Heard on High,” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Junior Daniel Auffant enjoys these earlier holiday songs. He says, “Between modern and earlier holiday music, I’d choose the early versions because they’re more traditional. I like simplistic music.”

By the 1800s, new songs began to flourish, such as “O Holy Night,” “Silent Night,” and “Jingle Bells,” which, surprisingly, was initially written to be a Thanksgiving song. While the 1800s had many great songs to bring people together, the Great Depression saw a decline in popular interest in Christmas. However, by 1934, the elevated spirits of holiday music began to be popularized once more. Around the same time, holiday music began to detach from the Christian religion. Songs such as “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” and “Winter Wonderland” helped many people recover during the Great Depression, according to Kristina Rodulfo. During 1938, one of the biggest known figures for the holidays, “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer”, was invented by Bob May. It was originally a children’s book for his daughter, but became a song in 1949. After many of these artists had released much of their holiday music, senior Zachariah Steele agrees with the sentiment that these songs such as “O Holy Night,” and “Joy To The World,” represent December as he says, “Because they sound snowy.” 

Going back to 1942, World War II helped innovate new songs as many people were suffering through the tough times of war and anguish. Songs such as “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “White Christmas” helped with easing tension little by little. In particular, “White Christmas” is one of the early holiday songs that will later influence one of the biggest modern holiday songs of our current era, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey. She also was influenced by the song “Baby Please Come Home,”and its chords. What makes Carey’s song fit so well with our staple point of holiday music is her modification to familiar holiday chords, using C Major, C Major 7, F Major, and her unique modification of Dm7 5, allowing sounds of her song to really prosper and catch the attention among any other song. This shows the eventual progress and evolution of ideas she came up with to modify and create complex chords that helped develop holiday music even more. Senior Elise Anderson, enjoys songs just like Carey’s, she says, “I absolutely love Christmas music, don’t get me wrong. And I think most of it is done really well. But, if I had to fix anything, I’d say a little more variety in message. A lot of songs are either about winter, Jesus,  or Santa and presents. Perhaps a little more variety in conveying the Christmas feeling and the deeper roots of the holiday would be something I’d fix.” Holiday music is usually stuck with one simple genre, until it was later contested in 1957 by Elvis Presley. He led the steady rise of rock and roll holiday music, with his Christmas album; “Blue Christmas,” being his highlighted song that still remains in high regard today. Junior Cynthia Han, is in favor of Christmas music having a variety of genres, saying, “I think they all have their own spins, with Christmas music you can tell it from other genres, such as rock and roll. They incorporate their own style into it to make it interesting.”

The evolution of holiday music is very important to December. The impacts made as well as the history of how these songs surfaced is very crucial, as it shows how much these wonderful songs came to unite all of us together and provide reasoning to why they were created. Anderson describes the purpose of holiday music, saying, “To me, Christmas music is the highlight of Christmas! Sure the lights are gorgeous and the matching PJ sets are where it’s at, but the music really makes Christmas! It’s purpose is to uplift and inspire, to make people feel happy and carefree! Its purpose is to bring light, love, and laughter into the world!” Happy holidays to all!