Hodie Christus natus est

Words: Traditional

Music: Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Best known for his finely wrought keyboard works, early 17th-century Dutch composer Sweelinck also wrote some heavy-weight choral music, of which this joyful carol is one of his best examples. Taken from his second book of Latin motets, the 1619 Cantiones Sacrae, this sparkling, three-minute carol isn’t harmonically or contrapuntally complex, but it manages to create the illusion of constant movement by swapping little melodic ideas back and forth between the five parts.

❄ December 1: Silent Night

❄ December 2: The Lamb

❄ December 3: Three Kings

❄ December 4: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen!

❄ December 5: The Sans Day Carol