Not to forget all the service personnel serving in wars everywhere
Played by Charlie and his Orchestra, a NAZI propaganda song.
I added many other fine Gift Getting suggestions at the thread titled "Christmas At Artisan Radio"
In producing the movie 'Odessa File' the singer Perry Como was intentionally selected to sing a Christmas song heard over a car radio to fit the late 1950s cold war era.
Christmas Dream by Andrew Lloyd Weber
From his death bed in a hospital the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger sketched his final work
The musical play 'Greenwillow' by Frank Loesser and starring Anthony Perkins closed after only 97 performances and became a lost masterpiece filled with wonderful music including
Greenwillow Christmas - The Browns
Many radio stations all over the world bring out their most serious and ornate Christmas music at this time of year, including Handel's Messiah, Bach's many Cantatas and Oratorios, and other lavish productions.
But one vast and towering work tends to be overlooked because it does not directly deal with Christmas but does enact the scariest book of the Bible, dealing with the End of the World.
Franz Schmidt The Book of 7 Seals
As we enter the heart of the Holiday Season I am reminded of many program vacancies brought on by the way so many programs take the time off and do not supply shows. There are three epic musical compositions I have in mind to air between Christmas and New years.
Two of these works come from Gustav Mahler and include 'The Song of the Earth' and 'Symphony of a Thousand'. Neither is exactly religious but both celebrate this life in very profound ways
And 3rd, Tchaikovsky's mystical fairy-tale ballet "The Nutcracker' which can be broken up into short portions or lengthy episodes with dancing candy-canes, waltzing flowers, and fairies flitting about the Christmas Tree. .
When Tchikovsky came to mind I was reminded of a generally overlooked movement "Waterfall in the Alps", the 2nd movement from the Manfred Symphony, which evokes very mystical and magical effects suitable for the holiday, and remember the reason I became intensely attached to this symphony.
A recording of the work by the USSR Symphony Orchestra came into my library and I was amazed at its power and beauty and the liner notes contained these words from the composer himself: "This is my best work but will be rarely played because of its complexities'. That's the impression I held for a long time. But then I ran into a whole other view of the work explained in this YouTube review by David Hurwitz, which tells us that many conductors considered the work to be junk, and most recordings of the work are not played well, resulting in Mr. Hurwitz's careful listing of "the best' performances.
I have found the "No. 1 Best" and scheduled it today for the adventure of hearing this version compared to all the others I have heard up until now.