‘O Come All Ye Faithful: A Musical Mystery Tour’

Beloved by Christians and non-Christians alike Christmas carols are amongst the few   musical genres to transcend religious and cultural differences. Uniting people through the magic of seasonal song, carols help us share our feelings and communicate the true meaning of Christmas. But what is the true meaning of Christmas? And what was the true meaning of Christmas when Christmas carols became popular in the eighteenth century? In this paper, Professor Bennett Zon tells the true but shocking story of the meaning behind Britain’s most popular carol ‘Adeste Fideles’, otherwise known as ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’. Join Zon for a ‘Musical Mystery Tour’ tracing its history from the 1740s to the present, through London Embassy chapels, recusant houses, Protestant churches and Catholic cathedrals.

Bennett Zon is Professor of Music at Durham University, and Director of the International Network for Music Theology. He is also Director of Durham’s Centre for Nineteenth-Century…