Download Organ Music for Christmas Here

The "Noëls" by Jean-François Dandrieu (1682-1738), Louis-Claude Daquin (1694-1772), and Claude-Bénigne Balbastre (1727-1799) are all organ variations on French carols of the day. Some of the noëls were popular tunes (even drinking songs) adapted to the season with words about the Christmas story or other biblical subjects. It was traditional for organists to improvise on these tunes before Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Daquin drew huge crowds, and Balbastre was eventually forbidden to play at Midnight Mass because it was thought that the many people who came to hear his improvisations didn't bring the proper devotional spirit. Some of the noël variations were written down and published (in Dandrieu's case, many of the variations were borrowed from his uncle Pierre Dandrieu, c. 1664-1733), so we can hear today how these highly ornamented and inventive variations show off the many colors of the instrument. Two common techniques: "en musette" texture, meaning the pedal holds a drone note in imitation of the sound of a bagpipe, and "tambourin" parts, repeated notes on the organ imitating a drum rhythm.

The Bach pieces are all settings of Advent and Christmas tunes that would have been played before or during church services during the appropriate season. "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" is our organ arrangement of the chorale from the Cantata BWV 147. "Wachet Auf" is Bach's own arrangement of the tenor movement from the Cantata BWV 140. The remaining Bach pieces are chorale preludes from the Orgelbüchlein.

The Gracia Baptista work is the earliest known keyboard work by a woman composer. It is a setting of the advent hymn Conditor Alme, still sung today as "Creator of the Stars of Night."

Christmas organ files	MP3	MIDI	Lyrics
Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring	mp3
Bach: "Wachet Auf"	mp3		lyrics
Daquin: Noël Suisse ("Il est un petit, l'ange")	mp3
Daquin: Noël en Musette ("Une Bergère Jolie")	mp3
Daquin: Noël Étranger	mp3
Daquin: Noël sur les jeux d'anches ("Qu'Adam fut un pauvre homme")	mp3		lyrics
Balbastre: Tous les bourgeois de Châtres	mp3		lyrics
Balbastre: Ah jô deu de pubelle	mp3
Balbastre: Joseph est bien Marié	mp3		lyrics
Balbastre: quand Jesus naquit à Noël	mp3
Dandrieu: A minuit fut fait un Reveil	mp3
Dandrieu: Noel cette Journée	mp3
Dandrieu: Vous qui desirez sans fin	mp3		lyrics
Dandrieu: Quand le Sauveur Jesus Christ	mp3
Bach: "Nun komm der Heiden Heiland"	mp3		lyrics
Bach: "Puer Natus in Bethlehem"	mp3		lyrics
Bach: "Vom Himmel Hoch"	mp3		lyrics
Bach: "Vom Himmel kamm der Engel Schaar"	mp3		lyrics
Bach: "In dulci jubilo"	mp3		lyrics
Gracia Baptista: Conditor Alme	mp3		lyrics