A Christmas Playlist: Top Twenty Carols of the Millennia

What are the top twenty Advent and Christmas hymns of the millennia—not counting the Holly-Jolly-Better-Watch-Out- Chestnuts-Roasting secular fare? From my 40 years as a cantor, soloist and choir member, I’ve compiled a playlist of the most sublime Christian hymns for Advent and Christmas, along with links to some memorable performances. But please don’t skip this little intro and head straight to the list and links. It might just change your ideas about singing at Mass.

Here’s a question to get us started: What document promulgated by Pope Paul VI has been ignored almost as much as Humanae Vitae?

Answer: The Second Vatican Council’s “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” (Sacrosanctum Concilium or “SC”), promulgated December 4, 1963. Its Chapter Six on “Sacred Music” (nos. 112-121) sets the standards for liturgical music that, regrettably, have been abused more than practiced in the intervening years.

And while these standards exist as a sure guide, selecting the best of the best is still pretty subjective, and I’m certain I’ll leave out some of your personal favorites. Some of my “best performances” may be new to you, too. So go ahead and take your best shot in the comments box.

Fair warning: Hymns, especially hymns, should be sung well (which doesn’t mean for professionals only) and they should keep the focus on God. For those reasons, I will not link to singers who scoop up to notes—yeah, I’m talking to YOU, Andrea Boccelli—or to soloists who embellish a perfectly beautiful melodic line with far more notes than written, making the music about THEM rather than about the text that’s glorifying God. There’s a place for jazz stylings, but it isn’t a Roman Catholic church. So, indulge me for a minute while I lay out the criteria for my choices (and give you more fodder for the comment box).

Sacrosanctum Concilium tells us that “the purpose of sacred music … is the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful,” and that sacred music “adds delight to prayer, fosters unity of minds, [and] confers greater solemnity upon the sacred rites” (no. 112).

While “the treasure of sacred music is to be preserved and fostered with great care … whenever the sacred action is to be celebrated with song, the whole body of the faithful [should] be able to contribute that active participation which is rightly theirs” (no. 114; emphasis mine). In other words, hymns during Mass should not be grand choral masterpieces for the choir alone to perform as if at a concert, but simple enough for folks in the pews to actively participate in praising God through song.

This point is reiterated in no. 118 of SC: “Religious singing by the people is to be intelligently fostered so that … during liturgical services, the voices of the faithful may ring out. …”

It may seem a contradiction that “the Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services” (no. 116; emphasis mine).

Many people think of Gregorian chant as being too difficult or outdated for assembly singing, but it’s not difficult to learn and chant is more “undated,” than outdated. It’s both elemental and timeless. The pulse of chant—the rising and falling, the speeding up and slowing down, always driving gently forward to eternal life—is as natural as breathing, as a heartbeat or the ebb and flow of waves on a shore line. Because the progression of notes in Gregorian chant make musical sense, and as they become familiar, chant allows one to focus on the all-important text (which is also always scriptural).  

A critical point is made in no. 121 of SC: “The texts intended to be sung must always be in conformity with Catholic doctrine; indeed they should be drawn chiefly from holy scripture and from liturgical sources.” And then the Council Fathers remind us for the third time that "genuine sacred music" should be composed not only with large choirs in mind. Compositions should also provide “for the active participation of the entire assembly of the faithful” (no. 121).

Saint Thomas Aquinas offered a beautiful description of the hymn as "the praise of God with song; a song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on eternal things, bursting forth in the voice." Contemplating the beauty and majesty of God as described in the hymn’s text, should cause praise to flow from our mouths in the most beautifully expressive way: that is, in song.

A final point: My list is made up of hymns that have been translated beautifully into the English language or were composed originally for an English text. I’ve sung or heard many dozens of wonderful hymns written in the major Western European languages that have been horribly mangled in translation. Because the text is paramount, I can’t include them.

So, to summarize, the best hymns have these features: (1) a beautifully expressed text, which (2) helps us contemplate and praise our almighty and loving God; (3) is taken mainly from scripture and liturgy; (4) conforms to Catholic doctrine; (5) has a lovely melodic line—with Gregorian chant holding pride of place; (6) is simple enough for assembly singing, and (7) supports the text instead of drawing attention away from it.

As we listen again and again to the best performances I could find, we can delight in the fact that these hymns have been sung by Christians for between 100 and 1600 years, forming an unbroken chain of praise to the Father "who so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life" (John 3:16). Place yourself in an abbey or ancient chapel, in a cathedral or basilica, in another century, in another country, and sing with the assembly, with all your heart. 

Top Twenty Countdown: Ten Each for Advent and Christmas

BEST ADVENT HYMNS

1.  

HONORABLE MENTION: Savior of the Nations, Come (only because I couldn’t find a good recording)
attrib. to St. Ambrose of Milan, c.340-397; trans. by William M. Reynolds (1812-1876); music based on “Veni, Redemptor Gentium,” first published in “Enchiridion,” Erfurt, Germany (1524)