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Thanks to all 20 participants who submitted a whopping total of 26 submissions to the 2025 Christmas Music Event! They will be the recipients of the "2025 Christmas Participant" award! - A Christmas Mash-up by @PeterthePapercomPoser Jesus was Born this Day by @Vonias Another Christmas Mash-up by @PeterthePapercomPoser My submission to the 2025 Christmas event!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by @therealAJGS Song for the Fallen (2025 Christmas Music Event Submission) by @Musicman_3254 Submission to the 2025 Christmas Music Event by @TristanTheTristan March of the Gingerbread People (2025 Christmas Event Submission) by @Crescent Roulade Fugue on "We wish you a Merry Christmas" (2017) by @J. Lee Graham Motet a 8 "O Magnum Mysterium" in E-flat Major by @Fugax Contrapunctus fantasia on jingle bells (2025 Christmas Event Submission) by @Monarcheon March of the Snowflakes - 2025 Christmas Event Submission by @Vavrinec O Soul, Seek Revelation 14:9-11 by @SeekJohn14v6 (Very Casual) Christmas Mesh Up by @HoYin Cheung The Empty Church - Submission to the YCF 2025 Christmas Event by @Wieland Handke Highland Shepherds - Submission to the YCF 2025 Christmas Event by @Wieland Handke Jingle Bells and Dashing Through the Snow by @chopin Christmas Carol by @Aiwendil Instead of Christmas (Submission to 2025 Christmas Event) by @Luis Hernández Coventry Carol (Christmas 2025) by @mercurypickles With Every Beat My Heart Knows by @HoYin Cheung A Christmas Scherzo by @PeterthePapercomPoser I composed a Christmas Song! - It went great! by @raymond doerr My Christmas Submission by @Mooravioli Christmas Mash-up No.3 by @PeterthePapercomPoser Glory to God by @SeekJohn14v6 Nutcracker inspired final by @Tunndy And thanks to all the reviewers who ardently and painstakingly reviewed all the entries to the event! (the AI generated ones aren't required): @chopin, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, @Wieland Handke and @PeterthePapercomPoser. They will be the recipients of the "2025 Christmas Reviewer" Award! - (Note that if people still want to review all the submissions after December 31st, they are free to do so and be added to the list of "2025 Christmas Reviewer" Award recipients ex post facto. Check how many more reviews you need to make before getting the badge in the 2025 Christmas Music Event Reviews Spreadsheet. If you're not on the list yet I will add you once you review a more substantial number of pieces.) And thanks to @PeterthePapercomPoser for the event announcement thread, managing new submissions, creating the Christmas calendar event, advertising the event in various discord servers as well as making this conclusion thread! He will receive the "2025 Christmas Organizer" Award! - And we all hope that you had a Merry Christmas and that your 2026 year will be great!!! To see the 2025 Christmas Music Event announcement thread go here:

Yeah

I wrote this piece over the past two months as a sort of challenge to myself and as a demonstration for a few other people on writing pieces out of short themes. I think it's structurally a lot more complicated than typical sonata allegros, but I kind of got carried away (especially in the recapitulation). Honestly, it sounds to me more like the scherzo (third movement) of a four movement sonata rather than the first movement, and I kind of tried following the scherzo form a bit by introducing some new material in the development section.

Possible performance notes: Calutions is a made up word that plays nicely with its antonym of concoction. It is a collection of complementary flavors. The origin of the word came from a large spice market located in New York City called Kalustyan's. This piece is a collection of modes and scales that have a main stepwise theme, but enters in many different variations in styles. theme : March in B major A; minor variation in B B; waltz in B Dorian C; Taqsim in Phrygian D; Fantasia in B lydian E: folk dance in mixolydian F; sinister March in Locrian G; variation in E Major Pentatonic H; Gagaku in minor Pentatonic I; variation in suspended Pentatonic J; shuffle in blues pentatonic K; folk dance in dominant Pentatonic L: Taqsim in A harmonic minor M; kinda maqsum in double harmonic minor O; Tarantella in A octatonic

This is a rather short and concise exercise in writing a sonata for cembalo that is playable even for me. It started with a minuet I wrote for a wedding; some improvising on the piano generated the idea for the allegro, and then only a slow movement was missing to have a three movement sonata, a basic structure popular in the 18th century. The allegro flows happily in 6/8, composed in sonata form; the reprise is slightly shortened so it is not too tedious, but also to have a balanced feel (Exposition: 32 bars; development + reprise 36 bars). The andante (binary form) provides some contrast by starting out in d minor, modulating to a minor and going back via g minor and F Major to d minor. The concluding minuet returns to more joyful music with a lively dialogue of left and right hand. I am considering adding a fast rondo, or composing another sonata concluding with a rondo; not sure about that.

Check out the conclusion to the event here:

Now I'm not normally in the business of mashups, but it always bothered me that Selena Gomez's "Rock God" didn't have any rock in it. When I set out to rectify this problem, it occurred to me that the "Burn It To The Ground" riff was perfect for it already, and so...

nutcracker inspired final.pdfmy submission :3 I'd like to get reviews ofc nutcracker inspired final.mp3

Hey @Tunndy! I remember I listened to quite similar music before haha: Maybe you can combine them in one post! I feel like the orchestration here is fuller than the previous versions. It certainly depicts the Christmas mood. Thx for sharing! Henry

This time I have mixed "O, Christmas Tree" with "Hark! The Herald Angel's Sing!" I included three stanzas of each Carol and each occurrence of each stanza is set differently with the final one being a bit polytonal. Also, this time the mash-up is accompanied by a brass octet instead of strings. And the choir is a SMAATTBB 8-part choir. Thanks for listening and I hope you had a Merry Christmas and that your New Year will be a happy one! I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, critiques or observations!

Yo Peter! This mashup is my favourite of your 3 because I think this one mixes the best! The counterpoint works so well here and even for passages in b.44 when the "O, Christmas Tree" melody enters in F major while the "Hark! The Herald Angel's Sing!" stays in C major it doesn't sound weird but fluent. That results in a lovely Lydian ending! Thx for sharing! Interesting, you are mixing real composition with originality then "originality" by clicking a button to generate, and call them the same thing as technology.

Hey @Mooravioli! Like Peter said this is a really lovely jazz influenced piece. I like all the suspension and jazz notes in it. The piece to me is somewhat like an after-Christmas party piece, happy but a little sad because the joyful party ends and knowing that it will end one day make us sad. Nice playing as well as the rubato really helps expressing the jazzy mood. Thx for sharing! Henry

Yes, the Theorbo is a “larger lute” which (at least here in Germany) is increasingly being used in baroque orchestras alongside the harpsichord and a small organ as a Basso Continuo instrument. I think I first discovered it about five years ago and am always delighted when it is used, for example in Handel's Messiah. It lends such warmth or even a “Mediterranean feeling” to the accompaniment that it surpasses the somewhat “boring” harpsichord and organ, which are unable to play dynamics, while they are needed for rhythmic and percussive accents (the harpsichord) and harmonic filling and foundation (the organ). That in mind, I decided - after nearly completing the instrumentation of my Prelude IX in E major as submission for the 2025 Christmas event - to create a Basso Continuo part, too, to emphasize the Baroque orchestra character. I must admit that it was a larger effort than initially expected (and my figured bass „numbers“ might be error-prone), however I really enjoyed the result so that I came around to present it as an „own piece“ here since I think it is worthwhile to hear it without the other instruments, which otherwise so strongly dominate the Basso Continuo that it's usually only perceived subconsciously. Thank you, @chopin, @Luis Hernández, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, @Kvothe and @PeterthePapercomPoser for confirming my belief that the atmosphere of this trio is calming and it could be indeed played on its own in a church, for example during evening prayers. Oh, I must say that I neither had "Where Sheep May Safely Graze" nor „Sleepers Awake“ in mind (while being wonderful) when composing the prelude, my inspiration was the „Sinfonia“ from the Christmas Oratorio. But, yes, if there are feelings of quotations from Bach, that is intentional (and fortunately, Bach won't be making any copyright claims...).