A Christmas Classic from Our Composer of the Month

One of the best (and easiest) ways to get your kids interested in music is listening to it around the house! Studies show that children grow to like what they are exposed to the most. Luckily for us, great classical music is easier to find than you might think. If you've ever seen Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, or any of a number of popular animated movies, there's a good chance you've heard some of the world's most famous themes. (Check out this article for a few specific examples.)

This week, we want to highlight a popular Christmas song that we bet you didn't realize was written almost 200 years ago by a famous classical composer (who happens to be our composer of the month for December!):

Franz Schubert wrote this beautiful song as part of a song cycle in 1825, when he was 28 years old. Although his original music used a different text in German, the Latin lyrics we know now were added later. The result was the classic that many around the world associate with Christmas today.

Schubert was one of the most famous composers of the Romantic Era (roughly the 1800s). As a young child, he took music lessons from his father and brother. As he grew up, he became a prominent composer, teacher, and singer in Vienna, Austria. Although he died of typhoid fever at age 31, Schubert was able to compose over 1,500 pieces in his short life! His most well-known pieces included his solo piano music, lieder (German songs), and chamber music. Schubert, who was said to be under 5 feet tall, was nicknamed "Schwammerl," or "Little Mushroom" by his friends, and was buried next to another one of the great composers - Ludwig van Beethoven.

For more of our favorites by Schubert, you can check out our Composer of the Month Schubert playlist here. We hope you'll use the Christmas holiday to keep discovering new favorites!