15 Pieces of Classical Music About Trains

by Emily E. Hogstad, Interlude

Composers have always been inspired by trains, and it’s easy to understand why: the rhythmic chugging of steam engines, the sweeping landscapes viewed from a train window, and the sense of adventure and nostalgia associated with rail travel…

All of these sounds, sights, and feelings have inspired composers to create music that continues to resonate with audiences today.

All aboard as we chug through fifteen pieces of classical music about trains!

Eisenbahn-Lust Waltz by Johann Strauss I (1836) 

Johann Strauss I (the father of the composer of The Blue Danube) was a well-known composer and orchestra leader who wrote many pieces for various dances and celebrations.

In 1836, he wrote this ebullient waltz (which translates into “Train Ride Fun”) to celebrate the construction of early railroads. They were just beginning to connect communities near Vienna to the city proper.

Mikhail Glinka: Travelling Song from A Farewell to Saint Petersburg (1840) 

This work comes from a larger suite of works called A Farewell to St. Petersburg.

Glinka was going through a tough patch at the time, as his marriage was disintegrating (his wife would ultimately leave him for another man). He poured some of his personal feelings about turmoil and transition into this set of songs.

The frantic Travelling Song takes inspiration from the perpetual motion of steam locomotives – and probably the composer’s desire to escape his difficult circumstances!

Charles-Valentin Alkan: Le Chemin de Fer (1844) 

Charles-Valentin Alkan was once viewed as one of the greatest pianists of the nineteenth century, but after being passed over for a prestigious teaching position at the Paris Conservatoire, he largely withdrew from public life.

Today, he is best known for his personal eccentricity and the wonderfully original and staggeringly challenging piano music he left behind.

Although Strauss and Glinka’s works came earlier, this is the first work to graphically portray the sounds and motions of a train. It’s sometimes characterized as banal, but no one can deny that it’s fun!

Hector Berlioz: Le Chant des chemins de fer (1846) 

Le Chant des chemins de fer translates into Railroad Song.

Somewhat amusingly to modern ears, it’s a whole cantata for orchestra and voices dedicated to glorifying the French railroad (as well as a celebration of the labour of all those who made its construction possible).

The occasion of its composition was the opening of the Gare de Lille, the main railroad station in Lille, France.

Berlioz wrote this work over the course of three nights for the money. He wanted a cannonade to go off in the final chords for maximum drama, but unfortunately, one couldn’t be located in time for his grand artistic vision.

Hans Christian Lumbye: Copenaghen Steam Railway Galop (1847) 

Here’s another work composed to celebrate the opening of a railroad. This time, it was the opening of the first railroad in Denmark, which ran between Copenhagen and Roskilde.

Lumbye, a well-known composer of light music, pulled out all the train-based stops here. A bell clangs; whistles go off; percussion instruments unite to imitate the huff and puff of a steam-powered train rushing off to its new destination.

Lustfahrten, Walzer by Eduard Strauss (1879-80) 

Like father, like son! Eduard Strauss, like his father Johann Strauss I, also wrote a work to honour the railroad, this one called Lustfahrten, or “Pleasure Trips.”

It was dedicated to the “Comité des Eisenbahnballes” (The Railway Ball Committee). Presumably, every attendee present found it transporting.

The Great Crush Collision March by Scott Joplin (1896) 

Here’s one of the stranger entries on this list.

In 1896, a man named William George Crush, an agent with the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad decided it would be a good idea to get rid of two of the railroad’s old locomotives by staging a massive trainwreck and selling train tickets to transport eager spectators directly to the scene of the crash.

A bespoke temporary town was built to accommodate the expected crowds. In the end, forty thousand people showed up!

Unfortunately, the crash turned into a disaster. The locomotives’ boilers exploded on impact, and two spectators died in the aftermath.

This extraordinary event was memorialized by up-and-coming composer Scott Joplin, who wrote a strangely upbeat piano piece portraying the deadly disaster.

Of special note are the notes he wrote in the score: “the noise of the trains while running at the rate of ninety miles an hour” and “the collision” (marked fortissimo, of course).

Pacific 231 by Arthur Honegger (1923) 

French composer Arthur Honegger was obsessed with trains. “I have always loved locomotives passionately,” he wrote. “For me, they are living creatures, and I love them as others love women or horses.”

So it makes sense that one of his first big successes was Pacific 231, an imaginative orchestral work that gives the impression of an ever-accelerating train.

It’s easy to tell from moment to moment what stage of its journey the train is in. Six boisterous minutes in, the train decelerates and arrives safely at the station.

Charles Ives: The Celestial Railroad (ca 1924) 

New England composer Charles Ives based his piano work The Celestial Railroad on the work of another New Englander: Nathaniel Hawthorne, and his short story of the same name.

In Hawthorne’s story, the narrator takes a train from the city of Destruction to the Celestial City. He begins talking with Mr. Smooth-It-Away, who is an expert on all things Celestial City, despite having never been there before. The story ends with Mr. Smooth-It-Away revealing his true form as a kind of demon. Luckily, in the end, it turns out to be a dream.

This work satirises the utopian and religious movements common in Hawethorne’s day, and Ives clearly enjoyed exploring the story’s themes in his own music.

When Ives wrote his fourth symphony, he adapted The Celestial Railroad into the symphony’s second movement.

Vladimir Deshevov: Rails (1926) 

There’s not a lot of information available online about composer Vladimir Deshevov besides the fact that he was born in 1889 and died in 1955.

However, this evocative fleeting portrait of a speeding train deserves a spot on this list, anyway!

Heitor Villa-Lobos: The Little Train of Caipira from Bachianas brasileiras No. 2 (1930) 

Translated into rough English, “Bachianas brasileiras” means “Bach-inspired Brazilian pieces.”

Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote a series of them, combining the European classical tradition with folk music influences from South America.

The finale of the second Bachiana Brasileira is called The Little Train of the Caipira. (A caipira is a person from a more rural area in Brazil.)

This piece follows the caipira’s journey through the countryside of Brazil. It’s up to listeners to decide what happens once the train decelerates and pulls into the station.

Benjamin Britten: Night Mail (1936) 

In 1935, British directors Harry Watt and Basil Wright created a twenty-minute documentary about the distribution of mail in Britain. It may have been an unassuming subject, but the work turned into a classic.

Poet and author W.H. Auden was involved with the production and wrote poetry for it. Meanwhile, his creative partner, composer Benjamin Britten, wrote the score.

The two men fused their efforts in this unusual spoken-word piece featuring both Auden’s poetry and Britten’s music.

Bohuslav Martinů: Le Train Hanté (1937) 

Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů wrote Le Train hante, or The Haunted Train, in 1937 for that year’s World Exhibition in Paris.

The work isn’t about passenger trains but rather an amusement park train ride, which explains the music’s manic, fairground-like qualities.

Steve Reich: Different Trains (1988) 

Steve Reich’s Different Trains was inspired by the fact that, as a Jewish American boy born in 1936, Reich often took train rides across the country to see his relatives. Once he got older, he realised that if he’d been born in Europe at the same time, he might have been forced to ride a train to another destination: a concentration camp.

The work is scored for string quartet and tape. The tapes include interviews with Americans reminiscing about their train journeys and Europeans describing their experiences on trains during the Holocaust. The sounds of sirens, whistles, trains, and even a string quartet were also recorded and woven into the music.

Ian Clarke: The Great Train Race (1993) 

Composer Ian Clarke describes this train-inspired showstopper for flute-like so:

Techniques include residual/breathy fast tonguing, multiphonics, singing & playing, lip bending, explosive harmonics and an optional circular breathing section. A forward with explanations of the techniques is given along with fingerings in the score for easy reference. The multiphonics used are of the more friendly variety; seven from only four different fingerings.

It is astonishing to hear how a talented flutist can evoke an entire train with no other instruments present!

Conclusion

These fifteen pieces of classical music about trains have taken us on quite a musical journey. We hope you’ve enjoyed it. Mind the gap as you disembark onto the platform!

The Paderewski Prize for American Composers

By Georg Predota, Interlude

On exceedingly rare occasions, people with real talent and poise are drafted into political service. Such was the case with the pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who became the prime minister and foreign minister of Poland in 1919. He represented his native country at the Paris Peace Conference but quickly took on the role of Polish Ambassador to the League of Nations.

Ignacy Jan Paderewski

Apparently, he was a skilled orator, and “every speech was a masterpiece of clear thinking and brilliant verbal form.” Musicianship and politics aside, Paderewski was a great humanitarian and philanthropist who established funds for various political and artistic organizations. After his 1895/96 American Tour, he established a fund “for the encouragement of American composers. He placed a sum of 2,000 dollars into the hands of three trustees, of which the interest was to be devoted to triennial prizes for composers of American birth irrespective of age or religion.” Only a couple of years later, Paderewski established a similar fund for Polish Composers in Leipzig in 1898. A panel of judges was quickly assembled, consisting of Arthur Nikisch, Carl Reinecke, Julius Klengel and the music critic Friedrich Pfau. Submissions were to be judged in the genres of chamber music, the symphony, and the concerto.

Sigismond Stojowski

While the chamber music prize was awarded to the “String Quartet” by Woitech Gavronski, the symphony prize went to Sigismond Stojowski (1870-1946). For a good many commentators, Stojowski is considered the missing link between Frédéric Chopin and Karol Szymanowski. Straddling Polish music between the second half of the 19th century and the dawn of modernism, his music somehow never managed to enter the repertoire. Stojowski had been a Paderewski student, and the Symphony in D minor, Op. 21 handily was awarded the first prize at the Leipzig 1898 competition. It was premiered as part of the competition festivities under the baton of Arthur Nikisch. Significantly, it was the first ever published symphony for orchestra by a Polish composer. Stojowski was urged to revise the final movement, and the premiere of the final version took place on 15 November 1900 with the Berlin Philharmonic. 

Emil Młynarski

The concerto prize went to Henryk Melcer-Szczawiński, who won with his Piano Concerto No 2. However, another first was awarded to the Violin Concerto Op. 11 by Emil Młynarski (1870-1935).

Born in Kibarty near Suwałki , Młynarski started his studies at the St Petersburg Conservatory at the age of nine and counted Leopold Auer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Anatoly Lyadov among his teachers. He also took classes with Anton Rubinstein and Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and he began to focus on developing his instrumental career. He would feature as the soloist at the Imperial Music Society and became second violinist of the Leopold Auer Quartet. During a stay in Odessa, Młynarski composed his Op. 11 concerto, a work he submitted to the Paderewski Competition. Crafted in the Romantic tradition, the concerto features a number of surprising harmonic solutions, and the flowing melodies are sprinkled with a dash of originality.

Henry Kimball Hadley

Due to organizational difficulties and political infighting, the Leipzig Paderewski Prize Competition did not continue. As such, Paderewski took the concept and transferred it to the emerging fund already envisioned in the United States. On 15 May 1900, he formally founded the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Trust of 10,000 dollars and defined a series of prizes for the encouragement of American composers. Composers would submit works anonymously, under an assumed name or motto, accompanied by a sealed envelope containing the composer’s name. The initial categories, limited to American composers, were pieces for full orchestra, pieces for chorus with orchestra accompaniment with or without solo voice parts, and pieces for chamber music for any combination of instruments. The rules also stipulated that the works could not have been previously performed in public or offered at any previous competition. 68 compositions were submitted in 1901, and Henry Kimball Hadley, who had studied with Eusebius Mandyczewski in Vienna, won with his Symphony No. 2 in F minor. Subtitled “The Four Seasons,” the work begins with “Winter” before the composer musically encodes the remaining seasons. 

The Paderewski Prize for American Composers was awarded every three years from 1901 to 1948. The first prize for a symphonic work carried a cash reward of $1,000, and chorus and chamber compositions received $500, respectively. “The prestige of the prize far outweighed the cash benefit, as in most cases, the publicity from the prizes led to assurances of international performances.” Horatio William Parker won in the chorus category with “A Star Song,” scored for solo voice, chorus, and orchestra, and the chamber music award in 1901 went to Arthur Bird’s “Serenade for Wind Instruments.” Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bird studied in Europe and spent a year with Franz Liszt at Weimar. His music was popular in Europe, and he was also active as a correspondent and music critic. 

Every competition needs a scandal, and that’s exactly what happened at the Paderewski Prize for American Composers in 1905. Approximately 80 manuscripts were submitted, including a symphonic work titled “Palisades Overture” by John Rice, Jr., of Hudson Heights, New Jersey. In the event, the manuscript submitted was actually the “Le Corsaire Overture” by Hector Berlioz. One of the jurors, the conductor Walter Damrosch had recently presented the work, and the ruse was easily detected. The trustees angrily delivered a letter to Rice demanding an explanation, who denied any knowledge. As expected, there was plenty of media coverage, but the competition was unaffected. Judges made the announcement on 17 November 1905, and the sole winner that year was Arthur Shepherd’s (1880-1958) “Overture Joyeuse.” 

George Whitfield Chadwick, Horatio William Parker, and the founding conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Frank Van der Stucken, chaired the 1909 competition. Paul Hastings Allen won the symphonic category with his “Pilgrim Symphony” in D Major, and David Stanley Smith was awarded first prize for his cantata “The Fallen Star,” Op. 26. Rubin Goldmark (1872-1936) won the chamber music award with his Piano Quartet in A Major, Op. 12.

Rubin Goldmark

The nephew of composer Karl Goldmark, he studied at the Vienna Conservatory until 1891 and returned to the United States to take up appointments in piano and music theory at the National Conservatory in New York City. He took composition lessons from Antonín  Dvořák, and became best known as the teacher of Aaron Copland and George Gershwin. 

The Paderewski Prize for American Composers took a break between 1911 and 1919, but restarted after the end of World War I in 1921. It was then held at the New England Conservatory and henceforth offered prizes in only two categories: symphonic and chamber music. No award was given in the symphonic category “for a lack of submissions meeting contest criteria,” but the chamber music award went to Wallingford Constantine Riegger (1885-1961).

Wallingford Constantine Riegger

Born in the state of Georgia, the family eventually moved to New York City. He was a gifted cellist and a member of the first graduating class of the Institute of Musical Art, later known as the Juilliard School. Riegger spent three years in Berlin and studied with Max Reger, and after a couple of years back home, he returned to Europe to conduct opera in Germany. He later taught at Drake University in Iowa, and his earliest surviving works are scored in a lush Romantic idiom. Such is the case with the Piano Trio that won him the Paderewski Prize in 1921. It would also be his first published composition.

Charles Haubiel

The trustees Arthur Dehon Hill and Joseph Adamowski announced the winners of the 1928 competition from Boston. Hans Levy Heniot (1900–1960), brother-in-law of Alexander Kipnis took the prize in the symphony category while Homer Corless Humphrey (1880–1966) won the chamber music entry with his Introduction and Allegro: Risoluto for Violin, Violoncello, and Piano. The 1934 winners were announced from New York, and Allan Arthur Willman took the symphony award with his tone poem “Solitude.” Charles Trowbridge Haubiel (1892-1978) received an honorable mention for his piano work “Mars ascending.” He was born in Ohio but educated in Berlin and New York City. He studied piano under Josef and Rosina Lhévinne, and counterpoint with Rosario Scalero. Haubiel received an appointment to teach piano at the Institute Musical Art, and at New York University. He composed three operas and a good deal of orchestral and chamber music. Tellingly, his music “has been described as a combination of Johannes Brahms and Claude Debussy. 

Composers of distinction for the 1938 competition included Walter Helfer, who received first prize for his “Prelude to a Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and Morris Mamorsky for his “Concerto for piano and orchestra.” Three years later the trustees announced the winners for the 1942 competition from Boston.

Gardner Read

Gardner Read (1913-2005) hailed from the state of Illinois, he initially studied piano and organ alongside counterpoint and composition at the School of Music at Northwestern University. A four-year scholarship saw him attend the Eastman School of Music, and he subsequently was active as a composer and administrator. He authored several textbooks on musical notation and technique and composed roughly 150 major works, “all of which demonstrate formidable technique and craftsmanship. His big orchestral canvases are especially notable for their exotic and often graphic colour.” These characteristics undoubtedly swayed the judges, and his foreboding second symphony won first prize in the 1942 Paderewski Fund Competition. The work premiered on 26 November 1943 with the Boston Symphony, Read conducting.

David Diamond

David Diamond (1915-2005) was considered one of the preeminent American composers of his generation. His works are frequently tonal or modally inspired, and his widely spaced harmonies give them a distinctly American flavor. He was a close personal friend of Leonard Bernstein, and he dedicated a number to him, and vice versa. Diamond’s compositional style is described as “lyrical, clear of structure, and marked by contrapuntal interest and the increasing use of chromaticism in his later compositions.” Diamond’s Quartet for Piano and String Trio in E minor was awarded the first prize in the chamber category, but the enormous success he enjoyed in the 1940s and early ’50s was “eclipsed by the dominance of atonal music… As such he became part of what some considered a forgotten generation of great American symphonists.” The initial phase of the Paderewski Fund for the Encouragement of American Composers came to an end in 1945 and 1948, with Herbert Elwell and Phyllis Hoffman taking the final awards. In the 1950s, the fund was renamed Paderewski Fund for Composers and began awarding commissions to composers in lieu of the competition.

Berlioz: Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust // Sir Simon Rattle

Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust (Hungarian March) conducted by Sir Simon Rattle with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Who was Lili Boulanger?

 Meet the inspiring composer who died tragically young

Lili Boulanger was one of the most talented composers of the 20th century, until her untimely death at the age of 24. Picture: Alamy

By Classic FM

@ClassicFM

 

Lili Boulanger was one of the most exciting composers of the early 20th century, until she died at just 24. Here’s everything you need to know about her life, music, and how her influence lives on today. 

Born on 21 August 1893, Marie-Juliette Olga ‘Lili’ Boulanger was one of the 21st century’s brightest stars in music and the arts.

A promising talent from a very early age, Boulanger was a multi-instrumentalist and pioneering composer, who shared her musical genius with the world right up to her untimely death in 1918, at just 24 years old.

Lili was part of the musically-gifted Boulanger family

Lili Boulanger was born to a prodigious family of musicians, so it’s no wonder she followed the family tradition with several generations’ worth of musical talent flowing through her veins.

Her mother, Raissa Myshetskaya, was a Russian princess who studied at the Paris Conservatoire. It was there that she fell in love with her teacher, Ernest Boulanger.

Boulanger himself was a conductor and composer, and the descendant of fine musical stock: his father, Frédéric was an acclaimed cellist, and his mother, Juliette, was a singer.

Lili Boulanger (right), with her sister Nadia (left). Picture: Alamy

Lili Boulanger was a child prodigy

Lili Boulanger was just two years old when she began to be noticed for her musical prowess. The great composer Gabriel Fauré, a friend of the family, spotted that she had perfect pitch, and the tot was able to sing melodies by ear. 

Her parents nurtured her abilities and encouraged a prestigious music education. Before the age of five she was accompanying her older sister, Nadia, to lessons at the Paris Conservatoire. Later she would attend independently, taking classes in music theory and the organ.

Boulanger also played piano, violin, cello and harp, as well as singing.

The first woman to win the Prix de Rome

In 1912, Lili Boulanger entered the Prix de Rome – the most prestigious honour for artists at the time. First awarded in the 17th century, the prize allowed the winner to live in Rome for three to five years, all expenses paid.

With categories in painting, sculpture, architecture and engraving, the first prize for musical competition was awarded in 1803 to Albert Androt.

Among its winners are some of Europe’s finest composers: Georges Bizet, Hector Berlioz, Claude Debussy, and even Lili’s own father, Ernest, in 1835 at the age of 20.

However, her 1912 entry was ill-fated. Boulanger collapsed from illness during her performance, and was unable to complete her entry. Not easily discouraged, Boulanger attempted once more in 1913, then aged 19, and won.

Her victory made her the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, though the judges couldn’t quite bear to let her enjoy the honour on her own. So they also awarded first prize that year to Claude Delvincourt.

Lili Boulanger: D'un matin de printemps / Cristian Măcelaru and Seattle Symphony

She wrote the cantata ‘Faust et Hélène’ in just four weeks

Faust et Hélène is the piece that gave the Prix de Rome judges no choice but to give her the award.

The rules of the competition stated that the piece had to be written in four weeks – so that’s what the precocious 19-year-old Lili did.

The cantata is 30 minutes long and is written for a full orchestra, telling the story of Faust, the man seduced by the power offered by the demon Mephistopheles.

Boulanger’s retelling of the German legend contains flavours of Wagner and Debussy, and it’s no surprise it won the most prestigious prize of its day. Just listen to this:

Boulanger: Faust et Hélène - Radio Filharmonisch Orkest o.l.v. Karina Canellakis - Live concert HD

A prolific composer and diligent worker, Boulanger continued writing music on her sickbed. Her final piece, a haunting and evocative ‘Pie Jesu’, was completed in her 24th year in 1918.

Initial sketches of the work have been found in the composer’s composition book, used between 1909 and 1913. It was completed with the help of her sister Nadia, who wrote out the work as it was dictated to her.

Lili Boulanger’s illness and death

Much of Lili Boulanger’s short life was afflicted by tragedy. At just two years old, she contracted bronchial pneumonia, an infection of the lungs.

Boulanger recovered, but her immune system was irrevocably weakened by the illness and she suffered from chronic illness for the remainder of her life.

In 1900, when she was just seven years old, her father, who had been 77 at her birth, died. His death affected Boulanger, who was very close to her father, greatly, and much of her work would deal with themes of loss.

In 1918, Boulanger died from intestinal tuberculosis which arose from her life-long health complications. She was buried in the Cemetery of Montmartre, where she was joined by her sister, Nadia, in 1979, as well as both of their parents.

Lili Boulanger’s legacy

Despite such a brief career, cut short by her premature death, Lili Boulanger’s legacy lives on today through both her own music, and that of many other eminent composers.

Lili’s sister, Nadia, who was a fine composer in her own right, was so affected by her sibling’s death that she deemed her own works “useless” and turned her complete attention to teaching, hoping to continue her sister’s legacy through pedagogy.

Nadia Boulanger, pictured with her student Leonard Bernstein. Picture: Getty

Over a lifetime of nurturing young musical talent, Nadia Boulanger’s students became some of the 20th century’s most famous composers and conductors, from Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein to Quincy Jones and Daniel Barenboim.

So although Lili Boulanger’s young death may have robbed us from plenty of brilliant music, perhaps if she had lived we may never have had West Side Story, ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’, or the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.

The 20 best pieces of classical Christmas music

 7 December 2022, 09:44 | Updated: 7 December 2022, 12:27

Christmas is upon us, so it's time to rediscover all our favourite festive pieces of music... Picture: Alamy

By Classic FM

@ClassicFM

 

Christmas is upon us, which means it’s time to rediscover all those favourite festive pieces of music.

Find out how classical music does Christmas, from traditional carols to obscure gems you may not yet have heard...

1. The Nutcracker – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

   The Nutcracker is something of a Christmas tradition. The festive tale of a toy soldier that comes to life has endured over the years and been subject to some radical retellings. But it’s Tchaikovsky’s music at the centre that makes the beloved ballet that little bit more special.

   Read more: The best ballet scores of all time

   

   The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House. Picture: Royal Ballet/Tristram Kenton

2. Troika – Sergei Prokofiev

   Taken from his Lieutenant Kijé, Prokofiev’s festive sleigh-ride of a piece is not only a mainstay in Christmas concerts around the world, but on hit radio stations too. English musician, Greg Lake, samples the Russian composer’s melody in his 1975 Christmas song, ‘I Believe in Father Christmas’.

   Read more: Greg Lake’s use of Prokofiev’s Troika is one of the best things about Christmas

3. Carol Symphony – Victor Hely-Hutchinson

   Written in 1927, Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s festive shindig of a piece takes the listener on a tour of some of the best-loved Christmas carols including ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’, ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ and ‘The First Noël’.

4. L’Enfance du Christ – Hector Berlioz

   Berlioz wrote the oratorio L’Enfance du Christ from 1854. It’s a huge work, which took four years to compose, and depicts not just the childhood of Christ but also Herod’s mass murder of infants in Judea, which led to the fleeing of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. The best-known section, ‘The Shepherds’ Farewell’, is a glorious blend of warm woodwind sounds, sublime choral harmonies and sensitive orchestral accompaniment.

5. Christmas Greeting – Edward Elgar

   While not one of Elgar’s best-known works, this delicate little Christmas song showcases his pastoral roots. Descriptions of the English countryside and calls of ‘Noël!’ make this an underrated festive gem.

6. Christmas Overture – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

   Coleridge-Taylor brings together a conglomeration of Christmas melodies and carols in his Christmas Overture. But this work is so much more than just an arrangement of well-known classics for orchestra, as the composer’s cleverly placed integrations show.

   It is thought the piece was composed by Coleridge-Taylor for the children’s play, The Forest of Wild Thyme. The work was published posthumously in 1925, 13 years after the composer’s death, age just 37.

7. Christmas Prelude for Chamber Orchestra – Vítězslava Kaprálová

   Czech composer, Vítězslava Kaprálová, wrote the orchestral miniature, Christmas Prelude for Chamber Orchestra, in 1939 for a Christmas program on the Paris PTT Radio. The unusual timbre of the work sets this short orchestral excursion apart from other festive favourites in this list, with the role of the harp beside the chamber orchestra and piano bringing a new colour to the work.

8. Song for Snow – Florence Price

   Written in 1930, this beautiful work by Florence Price for chorus and piano opens with the evocative lyric, ‘The earth is lighter than the sky’. The song’s text comes from a poem of the same name by American author, Elizabeth Coatsworth.

   Price’s vocal lines emulate falling snowflakes with an overarching descending melody, and a delicate piano accompaniment. Soft staccato homophony later evokes an icy landscape, before returning to the sweet, laid-back melody.

9. Sleigh Ride – Leopold Mozart

   Leopold Mozart’s Sleigh Ride takes the listener on a quaint though brief trot through a snowy forest on the back of a horse-drawn sleigh. Complete with an almost continuous drone of sleigh bells, ‘Schlittenfahrt’ was written by Leopold shortly before the birth of his son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Alongside the festive percussion instrument, the score also calls for a rattle, a whip, and triangle among the orchestra.

   The younger Mozart would quote from his father’s festive work in his own ‘3 German Dances’ a few decades later.

10. A Ceremony of Carols – Benjamin Britten

    This Christmas choral staple is one of Britten’s best-known works. Scored for three-part treble chorus, solo voices and harp, the piece is based on medieval carols.

    The work was originally scored for and first performed by the women of the Fleet Street Choir, but Britten quickly decided that the sound of boys’ treble voices were better at reflecting the child-like innocence he wanted to achieve through his setting.

11. Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson

    The second Sleigh Ride on our list was written two centuries after Leopold Mozart’s work, but contains just as many sleigh bell passages. Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, written in 1948, is a light orchestral standard, and was famously written during a heatwave in July.

    Like the Mozart work, Anderson employs another unusual instrument in his orchestration – this time, the use of woodblocks to create a horse-like ‘clip-clop’. Towards the end of the piece, a trumpeter is also instructed to make the sound of a horse whinnying using the brass instrument.

    Read more: The 30 greatest Christmas carols of all time

12. Christmas Concerto – Arcangelo Corelli

    The pastoral strains of Corelli’s Christmas Concerto have been a festive mainstay since the work’s publication in 1714. Published as Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8, the work was published posthumously and gained its Christmas name due to an inscription on the title page reading, ‘Fatto per la notte di Natale (made for the night of Christmas)’.

    Corelli uses folk-like tunes, and sounds evoking bagpipes to conjure images of the biblical shepherds attending the manger at the birth of Jesus.

13. Christmas Oratorio – Johann Sebastian Bach

    Written in 1734, J.S. Bach’s popular Christmas work is one of the choral masterpieces of the Baroque era. The Christmas Oratorio was written in six parts, for performance on one of the major feast days during the period between Christmas Day and Epiphany.

    Despite this, Bach clearly envisaged the work being heard as one united whole, and the full oratorio can be heard in churches across the world over the festive season.

14. Messiah – George Frideric Handel

    This English-language oratorio by Handel may have been composed for and first performed during Eastertide, but the choral work is a mainstay in Christmas concerts around the world.

    Handel confidently announces the birth of Christ with a radiant section of his Messiah that quotes St Luke’s gospel, ‘For Unto Us A Child Is Born’, and the famed ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus, despite being written to proclaim Christ’s Resurrection, is often associated with the Christmas season.

    
    

    'Silent monks' perform Handel's Hallelujah Chorus in hilarious high school concert

    Credit: South Kitsap High School

15. Oratorio de Noël – Camille Saint-Saëns

    Saint-Saëns wrote this oratorio in just one fortnight, submitting the work just 10 days before its premiere performance in 1858. Scored for soloists, chorus, organ, strings and harp, the composer was highly influenced by music from traditional Christmas church liturgies.

    The cantata-like work is divided into 10 movements; first a prelude, followed by nine vocal pieces.

16. Christmas Eve: Orchestral Suite – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    This sweeping orchestral suite was inspired by Rimsky-Korsakov’s four-act opera, Christmas Eve, written between 1894-95. In turn, his Christmas opera is based on an 1832 story by Russian Novelist, Nikolai Gogol, of the same name.

    The magical story takes place in the snowy setting of Dikanka, Ukraine, and characters include the devil, witches, wizards, and spirits of both good and evil nature.

17. Stella Natalis – Karl Jenkins

    Written in 2009, Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins’ 12-movement work explores the various themes of Christmastide. Stella Natalis, which translates to ‘star of birth’ or ‘star of origin’, draws inspiration from Bible Psalms, but also Zulu texts, and Hindu gods.

18. Winter – Antonio Vivaldi

    While not strictly a Christmas work, Vivaldi’s fourth season, Winter, is a masterclass in depicting scenery through music. The Italian composer’s writing for violin and orchestra evokes visions of icy surroundings and bitter winds, particularly in the fast and frenzied high-pitched plucking from the strings.

    Vivaldi's 'Winter' from the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra

    Henning Kraggerud and The Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.

19. Christmas Waltz – Tchaikovsky

    Like Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky also wrote a work dedicated to the Earth’s seasons. However, unlike Vivaldi’s four, Tchaikovsky wrote twelve movements, one for each of the months of the year. His twelfth movement was his Christmas Waltz, which is often performed on its own.

    This dainty work for solo piano has metamorphosed into various orchestral arrangements since its publication, like the one below, and can be heard in concert halls around the world at Christmas time.

20. Christmas Tree Suite – Franz Liszt

    Liszt’s Christmas Tree Suite (Weihnachtsbaum) is made up of 12 pieces for solo piano and is dedicated to his first grandchild, Daniela von Bülow. The suite includes pieces called ‘O Holy Night’, ‘Adeste Fideles’, and ‘Evening Bells’ (Abendglocken).

    The work received its premiere on Christmas Day 1881 in Daniela’s hotel room in Rome, where she was staying with her grandfather. Perhaps a Christmas gift, it is regardless an appropriate date for a first performance of this ‘Weihnachts’ work.

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