CJ Replay: The Alfred Burt Carols

Since the Alfred Burt Christmas Carols were first recorded and published in the 1950s, they have resounded through a score of countries in many languages. This music is one of the twentieth century's great contributions to the celebration of Christmas.

Alfred Burt was the son of Emily May Bailey and the Reverend Bates Burt, an Episcopalian minister. Al grew up in a home full of love in Pontiac, Michigan. Christmas at the home of the Bates Burt family was a time of special church services, a time for renewing cherished family traditions, a time for games and merriment, a time for singing carols old and new, and a time to celebrate a season of love. Each year the Burt family had a unique custom of mailing a musical Christmas card early in December. Beginning in the early fall, Bates sat at the family piano late at night composing both the melody and lyrics. The newest carol reached the Burt family's friends and loved ones in time for them to learn and sing it for Christmas. Burt probably had no idea of the tradition he had begun when he started writing the carols in the mid-I920s.
 

(from the Choral Journal article, "For Christmas with Love: The Alfred Burt Carols," by Ruth Buenting.)