Favorite Christmas Hymns

I really get tired of the sappy, stylized Christmas songs that are being played nearly everywhere during the season. Stores, coffee shops, radio stations, even classical ones bombard the ears with incessant earworm producing sounds. Because of this, I am so grateful when the holidays are over.

However, there are some Christmas and Advent hymns that I love dearly, and even listen to them when it is not the Christmas season. Here is a list of some of them, not necessarily in order of preference:

 

1.     Comfort, Comfort O my People

2.     Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming

3.     Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light

4.     Hark! The Glad Sound!

5.     The Angel Gabriel

6.     Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

7.     Once in Royal David’s City

8.     In the Bleak Midwinter

9.     The Shepherd’s Farwell (by Hector Berlioz)

10.  Christmas Lullaby (by John Rutter)

11.  Still, Still, Still

12.  Here is the Little Door (by Herbert Howells)

There are also a number of German and Spanish carols that I enjoy listening to. Few of the songs that I list are sung when groups go caroling or in churches. There is a reason for this, and it is precisely why I like them. They are generally more challenging musically than the usual carols that we sing, and certainly more so than the ditties played incessantly on holiday streams in stores. They also have exquisite harmony. Some of them I chose because of their challenging words (1, 4 and 5)

What are your favorite Christmas hymns?