First Listen

Exclusive Preview: Two Tracks from the Downton Abbey Christmas Album

Part 1:

Part 2:

It’s Christmas at Downton Abbey, and a regular old rendition of “O Tannenbaum” just isn’t going to cut it. As the popular drama prepares to air its annual Christmas episode in the U.K., ITV is releasing the 45-track Christmas at Downton Abbey album. Dropping November 10, the album includes several festive versions of the show’s theme song, traditional hymns and carols, and the two-part “Downton Abbey Suite,” which you can listen to exclusively here at VF.com.

Composer John Lunn tells us that each Downton Christmas episode comes with music that reflects its location, as when last year’s special took place in London. This year’s special includes “a new, rather grand location,” that Lunn, sadly, says he cannot divulge. While he tells us that, in Season 5, Edith has been accompanied by the saddest music and Violet the most upbeat, that’s as far as he went in giving other hints about what to expect in the special, which will air in the U.K. on December 25 and in the United States early next year.