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Originally Posted by Chris
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Not one of the best known, but a great one to begin Advent (4 Sundays before Christmas, which was actually at the end of November this year). This is a decent solo studio recording, but to really hear it at its best you need to hear it done by a full congregation, with the tune as originally written. It’s almost like medieval plainsong, and doesn’t have nearly as many pauses at the ends of the lines. You need to be able to take a deep breath!
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it is plainchant of course.
Also, technically not Christmas - there are seven "O Antiphons" (quite why a lot of hymn books only have five verses still escapes me) one for each day before Christmas, so the correct time for this hymn is the week before Christmas. Each of the antiphons became one of the verses of the hymns.
In some places who do choral evensong up until Christmas they flank the Magnificat with the relevant antiphon this week...