{"id":7726,"date":"2021-12-24T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T07:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=160774"},"modified":"2021-12-24T08:57:08","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T07:57:08","slug":"the-best-french-19th-century-festive-works","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/the-best-french-19th-century-festive-works\/","title":{"rendered":"The best French 19th-century festive works"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By BBC Music Magazine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 24 December 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Berlioz\u2019s magical Christmas tale (or \u2018Trilogie sacr\u00e9e\u2019), L\u2019enfance du Christ<\/i><\/a>, is one of the world\u2019s most famous pieces of festive classical music<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, <\/span>popular though it may be, it is not the most famous contribution to the Christmas choral repertoire from 19th-century France. <\/span><\/p>\n

Six years earlier, Adolphe Adam<\/a><\/strong> composed his \u2018Minuit, chr\u00e9tiens!\u2019, setting a poem by Placide Cappeau \u2013 under its English title with words by John Sullivan Dwight, O Holy Night<\/i><\/a><\/strong> has become a world favourite.<\/span><\/p>\n

For a fairly substantial festive listen \u2013 though rather shorter than L\u2019enfance du Christ<\/i> \u2013 there\u2019s Saint-Sa\u00ebns<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Christmas Oratorio<\/i>. A ten-movement work written in 1858 when the 23-year-old composer was an organist at La Madeleine in Paris, it is scored for soloists, chorus, organ, harp and strings, and in style owes much to both Bach<\/a><\/strong> and Berlioz<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n