Christmas is the story of a magnificent transformation. The religious festival has its origins in natural religions, was then adopted and annexed into Christianity, has now long been secularised and is also celebrated beyond religious borders as a cultural, commercial and social event. Music can never be absent from this continually expanding season, spanning all genres from ancient chorales, folksongs from different epochs, folkloristic songs, classical lieder, musicals to large-scale oratorios and even the operatic stage is not spared a touch of Christmas. Vocal music comes very much to the foreground and in turn maintaining an active exchange with literature, its genres, trends and fashions. Musical and literary arts share the interesting fact that their works focused on Christmas are not merely rooted in local and regional traditions, but also extend to different layers of the historical metamorphosis of the festival – nature, religion and social life – while still retaining vibrancy. An extract from this polyphony of tradition and atmosphere can be heard at the beginning of the new Vokalzeit CD, naturally against an international horizon.