Fashion
Why Composers of Any (or No) Faith Are Drawn to Sacred Music
Many Christmas standards were not written by Christians. David Lang explains the appeal for him, a Jewish composer of a modern holiday classic.
If you like Christmas music, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” isn’t just the name of a song.
This time of year, Christmas music is all around us — in stores, in elevators, in ads on your phone. It may even be in your home. My wife was raised on “The Perry Como Christmas Album,” so that always gets some play in our household. I am not a Christian, and I wasn’t raised with any Christmas albums, but of course I know all the songs. The music really is everywhere.
There are a lot of great Christmas albums to choose from. Mel Tormé’s are classics. So are Barbra Streisand’s. And Neil Diamond’s. Bob Dylan’s “Christmas in the Heart” is on its way to becoming a classic. So many great choices! If I had to pick one, I would choose John Zorn’s sparkling “A Dreamers Christmas,” which has just the right combination of noise and nostalgia for me.
None of the artists who made these albums are Christian. The same goes for “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”; its lyricist is Eddie Pola (born Sydney Pollacsek), and its composer is George Wyle (born Bernard Weissman).
Whether it’s chestnuts roasting on an open fire or a white Christmas, many of our classic Christmas images are drawn from songs written by Jewish composers and lyricists. Why are so many great artists drawn to making art about a holiday that isn’t theirs? Every Christmas, I ask myself this question, because accidentally I — a Jewish composer — have also written something of a Christmas classic: “the little match girl passion.”
