Hello all,

For my next piano group meeting the theme is "Christmas Music: or relating to thereof"

I post to ask if you could list some of the composers who wrote music relating to Christmas. So for I have Liszt's Weihenachtsbaum. But there has to be more. The group is generally quite open. (For example, one theme was "60's music", so everyone thought 1960s. I played a piece composed in the 1860s )

I would play Tchaikovsky's December, but it is a bit too hard for me musically.

thanks,
-jg

Why don't you just play some basic Christmas carols? Or maybe look in a church hymnal. Mine has a lot of Christmas songs in it. (Methodist hymnal)

Other than that, the only thing I can think of are the Mendelssohn pieces I recorded for the site. I thought they are called "Children's Pieces", but I've also seen them called "Christmas Pieces" or something like that.

Yay ! Play Silent Night ! It's not too hard and everybody loves it !

Niels Gade "Children's Christmas Eve" Op.36 is a collection of easy pieces that could be just what you need. The first one (Christmas Chimes) is really easy. If you are interested and don't find the score on IMSLP, let me know and I'll pass it on to you. There would be even a couple of easy arrangements of carols, one by Katsaris and the other one by Grainger, but both demand good voicing skills.

If you need a show-stopper of a Christmas piece that won't take a lifetime to learn, you might want to take a look at the Christmas Rhapsody by John Schaum. It includes three Christmas carols in it - Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful, and Joy to the World, if I remember correctly - and I've heard say that it's a lot of fun for both the pianist and audience. Just a suggestion.

Well, if you want something pretty strange that would require quite a bit of work to learn and play well, check out George Crumb's A Little Suit for Christmas.

You could do the Nutcracker suit?

The transcribed ballet by Tchaikovsky? hahahhaha I'm not Richter.

Hahaha touche

...why was I spelling "suite" without the e the other day?