As a devoted choral music geek, I wish it were Christmas all year round! But why is there proportionately so much more choral music on the radio (I’m talking about classical stations) during the Christmas season than there is the rest of the year?
There’s certainly plenty of non-Christmas-related choral music out there, but it never seems to get much airplay, and I’m tired of hearing the same few operatic chorales over and over again. It’s discrimination! (And don’t get me wrong; I love the Christmas choral music, too, and would be happy to hear it in July, but it seems that everything else is ignored.)
I think for many people there’s a mental and emotional link between Xmas and choruses. At Xmastime, music becomes a part of the lives of people who don’t usually have much to do with it. People who never sing all year still sing Christmas carols—usually in large groups. Every school in the country, practically, gives a winter concert, and they’ve all got choruses. And I bet most of us have memories of getting up and performing with our elementary school classes at a Winter Holiday assembly. Lots of people only go to church at Xmas—when most church choirs put on a display of some sort. People who don’t usually go to concerts are used to hearing the The Messiah every Xmas, even though it’s really no more a Xmas piece than an Easter one. So at Xmas folks have these warm fuzzy childhood memories of choruses.
I’ve heard that some radio stations have the idea choral music isn’t as popular with listeners as instrumental. (I remember when the Seattle classical station announced that it was going to cut way back on playing choral music because people didn’t like it.) But at Xmas everyone expects choruses, so suddenly you hear them everywhere.
Any, that’s my theory. I think much the same is true of Renaissance music. If anything, Xmas was less of a big deal in the Renaissance than it is now—but most people today if they hear Renaissance music instantly think it sounds Xmassy, because that’s normally the only time they hear it. And because everyone expects it at Xmas, you get to hear a lot more Renaissance music then than you do the rest of the year.