Today, some unfamiliar Christmas carols — or perhaps very familiar ones, if you’re Polish.

In 1946, the Director of Polish Music Publishing asked composer Witold Lutosławski to make some new arrangements of old Polish carols. During World War II, Poland had been under the control of Nazi Germany, and after the war dominated by the Soviet Union. In addition to material hardships, in the cultural sphere 1946 was a difficult time for Polish artists. Overnight Communist ideology was imposed on all endeavors, including music. The Polish Music Publishing director probably thought collecting and publishing Christmas carol arrangements was a relatively safe activity.

And so, Lutosławski collected and arranged 20 old Polish Christmas carols for voice and piano, and these were premiered in Kraków soon after. In the political and cultural turmoil of the decades that followed, these arrangements were pretty much forgotten until almost 40 years later, when Lutosławski re-arranged them for solo soprano, chorus, and orchestra.

And, even if you don’t speak Polish, if you sing in a choir looking for some new Christmas music, you should know these Lutosławski carol arrangements are available in English-language versions, too.

Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994): The Angels Came to the Shepherds and Hey, We Look Forward Now (excerpts), from 20 Polish Christmas Carols; Polish Radio Chorus, Kraców; Polish National Radio Chorus and Symphony; Antoni Wit, conductor; Naxos 8.555994

On Christmas Eve in 1951, NBC television broadcast live the world premiere performance of Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors. Now, for decades the kinescope recording of that original live transmission was thought to be lost, but miraculously, a copy resurfaced just in time for Amahl’s 50th anniversary and was shown at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills in December of 2001.

On the broadcast, the dapper Menotti can be seen introducing the new work, confessing that NBC had commissioned the opera in 1950, but its wasn’t until the Thanksgiving of 1951 that he actually began working on it, inspired by the painting “The Adoration of the Magi,” which he saw at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. In fact, Menotti was working on his new score up to the last minute, delivering it bit by bit to the performers prior to its premiere.

The opera proved a hit, and for the next five years became an annual live holiday broadcast on NBC.

NBC continued to air Amahl occasionally through the 1970s, but by that time it had become an established seasonal tradition for both professional and amateur performers coast to coast.

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007): Amahl and the Night Visitors Suite; The New Zealand Symphony; Andrew Schenck, conductor; Koch 7005

The greatest clarinetist of the early 19th century was Heinrich Baermann, whose son Carl was also a fantastic performer on the basset horn, the lower-voiced member of the clarinet family. Felix Mendelssohn, in addition to being fond of their playing, was fond another Baermann Family specialty: the “Dampfnudeln” or sweet dumplings they served their friends.

In December of 1832, Mendelssohn asked if they’d whip him up a batch. The Baermanns said “Sure – if you’ll whip something up for us, namely a duet for clarinet and basset horn.”

Carl Baermann described what happened next: “Mendelssohn put a chef’s hat on my head, drew an apron around my waist and stuck a cooking spoon into the waistband. He did the same himself, except that instead of a spoon, he stuck a pen behind his ear. Then he led me into the kitchen ... He returned to his room where, as he said, he was going to stir and knead tones ... When I brought the dumpling in a covered dish to the table at the time agreed upon, Mendelssohn also had his duet in a covered dish. Father and I were delighted with the charming piece — although Mendelssohn kept saying that my creation was better than his.”

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847): Concert Piece No. 1; Sabine and Wolfgang Meyer, clarinet and basset horn; Wurtemberg Chamber Orchestra; Jorg Faerber, conductor; EMI 47233