Per la notte di Natale - Italian Christmas Concertos

Christmas celebrations are thought to go all the way back to the formidable feasting of the Vikings at midwinter, when in true Nordic fashion yuletide was 'toasted in'. The celebration of the birth in Bethlehem is more subdued and spiritual, and it is of a far more recent date. We do not know if the Vikings celebrated yuletide with music, but music at Christmas has been a popular tradition since the Middle Ages. Today, practically all peoples around the world celebrate midwinter with special religious and cultural rituals; the precise times vary, but gifts, decorations, festivities, candles, bells and special Christmas music are apparently always part of this.

For us, customs and habits at Christmastide are a fascinating hotchpotch of fun and seriousness, fairytale and everyday, religious and secular, western and eastern, national and international. The tradition of decorating trees and walking round them singing on Christmas Eve is German and did not reach Danish middleclass homes until the early 19th century. After that, over a century was to pass before the working class could afford to decorate trees with candles. But Christmas songs and carols were something everybody could afford.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Christmas was the busiest time of the year for church composers. The congregation expected to hear new Christmas music in church which often involved instruments, choirs and soloists. Composers throughout Europe both young and old, known and unknown, lovingly and loyally participated in this Christmas tradition, and many of the greatest among them invested considerable creative powers and imaginativeness in writing music for Christmastide. In addition, the wealthy nobility had the custom of commissioning semi-religious music for 'charming musical diversions' at Christmas, probably as a prelude to a sumptuous Christmas dinner for numerous invited guests