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Art, History & Biography

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree: Holiday Music from the Library!

From "O Come, All Ye Faithful" -- a carol with roots dating back as far as the 13th Century -- to Cee Lo Green's funky 2012 single "What Christmas Means to Me," holiday music defines the winter months for many people, religious and secular alike. The Library has a large collection of festive sheet music and CDs to ensure that your Dec. 25 is anything but a Silent Night.   

Christmas Sheet Music

 The Christmas Songbook compiled and edited by James Sleigh.
A great assortment of 32 seasonal songs and carols arranged for piano and voice, magical stories by Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Dickens, traditional Christmas recipes, and classic Yuletide poems.




 The Complete Christmas Music Collection edited by Carol Cuellar.
With traditional Christmas favorites arranged for piano and voice, this collection includes "Angels, From the Realms of Glory," "A Holly Jolly Christmas," "The Little Drummer Boy," "Winter Wonderland" and many more.

 

 The Reader's Digest Merry Christmas Songbook edited by William L. Simon.  
This 256-page spiral-bound music book and the accompanying 32-page lyric book contain more than 100 Yuletide favorites -- everything from holiday standards like "Silent Night" to less traditional offerings like "Will Santy come to Shanty Town?"



 100 Great Christmas Songs.
This compendium, a comprehensive collection of 100 well-known carols, includes easy piano arrangements of songs from all over the world: "Christmas in Kilarney," "Adestes Fideles  (O Come, All Ye Faithful)," "Fum, Fum, Fum," "Coventry Carol" and more. 

 

For more holiday sheet music, ask a Reference Librarian at The Library Center about the Burt Buhrman Sheet Music Collection, which includes piano and vocal arrangements for many older Christmas songs.

Christmas Sound Recordings

 Acoustic Christmas: Twelve Merry Classics
An All-Star Salute to Christmas
The Andy Williams Christmas Album
The Baroque Christmas Album
The Bells of Dublin -- The Chieftans
On This Winter's Night -- Lady Antebellum
A Reggae Christmas

 The Best of Christmas -- Tennessee Ernie Ford
The Best of Loretta Lynn: The Christmas Collection
Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas
Christmas Around the World
One More Drifter in the Snow -- Aimee Mann
Treasury of Christmas: Great Holiday Duets
A Peaceful Christmas
Christmas Caravan -- The Squirrel Nut Zippers
Glee: The Christmas Album
Hag's Christmas -- Merle Haggard
Martinis and Mistletoe: Cool Tunes for Your Christmas Cocktail Party
Vintage Christmas

 
To find more Christmas CDs, visit the Library's catalog at COOLcat.org and do a Subject search for "Christmas Music."

History of Christmas Carols

 Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas by Ace Collins, illustrations by Clint Hansen.
Behind the Christmas songs we love to sing lie fascinating stories that will enrich your holiday celebration. Taking you inside the nativity of over 30 favorite songs and carols, Collins introduces you to people you've never met, stories you've never heard, and meanings you'd never have imagined. The next time you and your family sing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," you'll have a new understanding of its message and popular roots.

 Ultimate Christmas Music Companion Fact Book by Dale Nobbman.
This book provides comprehensive biographical sketches of the men and women who wrote, composed and translated the most famous traditional Christmas songs of all time. Their true-life stories and achievements are fascinating and inspirational for anyone wanting to know more about the people behind the music.


 Why Was the Partridge in the Pear Tree? : The History of Christmas Carols by Mark Lawson-Jones.
Discover the hidden stories behind best-loved Christmas carols, from their earliest incarnations in the Middle Ages and their banning under the Puritans to the carols that united soldiers on the Western Front during World War I.  

 

 

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