Christmas music

Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season.

History

Early music

Music was an early feature of the Christmas season and its celebrations. The earliest examples are hymnographic works (chants and litanies) intended for liturgical use in observance of both the Feast of the Nativity and Theophany, many of which are still in use by the Eastern Orthodox Church. The 13th century saw the rise of the carol written in the vernacular, under the influence of Francis of Assisi.

In the Middle Ages, the English combined circle dances with singing and called them carols. Later, the word carol came to mean a song in which a religious topic is treated in a style that is familiar or festive. From Italy, it passed to France and Germany, and later to England. Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Audelay, a Shropshire priest and poet, who lists 25 "caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of wassailers, who went from house to house. Music in itself soon became one of the greatest tributes to Christmas, and Christmas music includes some of the noblest compositions of the great musicians.

Kane (wrestler)

Glenn Thomas Jacobs (born April 26, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He works for WWE, and is best known by his ring name Kane. Jacobs began his professional wrestling career on the independent circuit in 1992. He wrestled in promotions such as Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) and the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) before joining the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1995. Jacobs played various characters until 1997, when he was repackaged as Kane, the monstrous and/or demonic younger brother of The Undertaker, with whom Jacobs would alternatively feud or team as The Brothers of Destruction.

Following his debut, Kane remained a pivotal component of the company's Attitude Era of the late 1990s and early 2000s, defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF Championship in his first pay-per-view (PPV) main event at King of the Ring 1998. He has continued to compete in world championship PPV matches through the mid 2010s.

Kane has won 18 total championships during his WWF/E career, including being a three-time world champion (having held the WWF Championship, ECW Championship, and World Heavyweight Championship once each) and a 12-time world tag team champion, having held the WWF/E (World) Tag Team Championship, WCW Tag Team Championship, and WWE Tag Team Championships with various partners. He is also a two-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and a 2010 Money in the Bank winner. Two-time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair has called Kane "the best in the world".

The Christmas Song

"The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a classic Christmas song written in 1945 by Bob Wells and Mel Tormé.

According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer. In an effort to "stay cool by thinking cool", the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song was born. "I saw a spiral pad on his (Wells') piano with four lines written in pencil", Tormé recalled. "They started, 'Chestnuts roasting..., Jack Frost nipping..., Yuletide carols..., Folks dressed up like Eskimos.' Bob didn't think he was writing a song lyric. He said he thought if he could immerse himself in winter he could cool off. Forty minutes later that song was written. I wrote all the music and some of the lyrics."

The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song early in 1946. At Cole's behest – and over the objections of his label, Capitol Records – a second recording was made later the same year utilizing a small string section, this version becoming a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole again recorded the song in 1953, using the same arrangement with a full orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, and once more in 1961, in a stereophonic version with orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael. Cole's 1961 version is generally regarded as definitive, and in 2004 was the most-loved seasonal song with women aged 30–49, while the original 1946 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974.

Christmas Song

Christmas Song may refer to:

See also

Coel Hen

Coel (Old Welsh: Coil) or Coel Hen ("Coel the Old") is a figure prominent in Welsh literature and legend since the Middle Ages. Early Welsh tradition knew of a Coel Hen (Coel the Old), a leader in Roman or Sub-Roman Britain and the progenitor of several kingly lines in the Hen Ogledd ("the Old North"), the Brittonic-speaking part of northern England and southern Scotland. Later medieval legend told of a Coel, apparently derived from Coel Hen, who was the father of Saint Helena and the grandfather of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. Other similarly named characters may be confused or conflated with the Welsh Coel. The legendary "King Coel" is sometimes supposed to be the historical basis for the popular nursery rhyme "Old King Cole", but this is unlikely.

Name

Coel's name was rendered "Coil" in Old Welsh. It may be related to the common noun coel, meaning "belief or omen". Coel is often named as "Coel Hen", Hen being an epithet Hen meaning "old" (i.e., "Coel the Old"). The genealogies give him an additional epithet, Godebog (Old Welsh: Guotepauc), meaning "Protector" or "Shelterer". His name is thus sometimes given as "Coel Godebog" or "Coel Hen Godebog". However, some of the Harleian genealogies list Godebog as Coel's father's name.Geoffrey of Monmouth Latinized the name to Coelus. Some modern authors modernize it to "Cole".