Off the top of my head, entirely in minor or dorian, there's God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, What Child Is This?, Sing We Now of Christmas, Carol of the Bells, O Come O Come Emmanuel... O Holy Night spends time in minor, as does It Came Upon the Midnight clear.
So if Christmas is supposed to be happy, why all the minor?
My theory is that these carols were written by liturgical writers, and that the aeolian and dorian modes simply used to be more popular, especially with the church. This is reinforced by the fact that the carols in major tend to be secular, while the ones in minor are almost always about Christ... but does anyone have a real explanation for this phenomenon?
2007-12-25
19:22:42
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1 answers
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Anonymous