New recording to feature the works of Chilcott, Tavener, Vaughn Williams, and Bucher
Signum Classics is releasing a new King's Singer Christmas album, which contains a more classical repertory.
The records label's description is as follows:
This brand new Christmas album from The King’s Singers features 25
tracks covering everything from contemporary choral gems and folk songs
through to well-loved carols. Dotted throughout the album are several of
the most famous English church carols, which take The King’s Singers
right back to their earliest singing days, and which also reflect the
group’s heritage at King’s College, Cambridge. In Christmas Carols with
The King’s Singers, the group bottle that frosty, moonlit, fireside
Christmas wonder and pour it into their sound.
1. Balulalow James Burton
2. Gaudete! (Rejoice!) Traditional, arr. Brian Kay
3. O little town of Bethlehem Traditional, arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, ad. Patrick Dunachie
4. Tomorrow shall be my dancing day David Willcocks
5. The Shepherd’s Carol Bob Chilcott
6. La filadora (The spinner) Traditional, arr. Goff Richards
7. The quiet heart – June Collin
8. Hodie Christus natus est (Christ is born today) Plainchant
9. Ding! Dong! Merrily on high Thoinot Arbeau, arr. Charles Wood
10. O, do not move John Tavener
11. O magnum mysterium (O great mystery) Tomás Luis de Victoria
12. Once in royal David’s City Henry John Gauntlett and Arthur Henry Mann, ad. Nick Ashby
13. Brich an, o schönes Morgenlicht (Break, O beautiful morning light) Johann Sebastian Bach
14. Julebudet til dem, der bygge (The Christmas message) Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann, arr. Bo Holten
15. Gabriel’s Message Traditional, arr. Edgar Pettman
16. Hymne à la Vièrge (Hymn to the Virgin) Pierre Villette
17. The little road to Bethlehem Michael Head, arr. Grayston Ives
18. Dormi, dormi (Sleep, sleep) Traditional, arr. Guy Turner
19. Nit de vetlla (A night of watching) Traditional, arr. Goff Richards
20. Wither’s Rocking Hymn Ralph Vaughan Williams, arr. Christopher Bruerton
21. Jul, jul, strålande jul (Christmas, Christmas, brilliant Christmas) Gustaf Nordqvist
22. The Lute-Book Lullaby Anonymous, arr. Geoffrey Shaw
23. Qui creavit caelum (He by whom the heavens were made) (Song of the Nuns of Chester) Plainchant
24. L’Adieu des Bergers (The Shepherd’s Farewell) Hector Berlioz, arr. Christopher Bruerton
25. Fröhliche Weihnacht überall (Merry Christmas all around) Traditional, arr. Matthias Bucher
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(Above image form United Music Publishing Limited)
Diana Burrell was commissioned in 1993 for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge to write a carol. She l was the the second woman to be commissioned.
For a bio of Burrell, we direct you to the webpage of United Music Publishing Limited. She studied music at Cambridge University. She went into her professional career as a violist and has many good composition for the instrument. She wrote one of her first compositions for the 1980 St Endellion Music Festival. Her first major orchestral composition, "Landscape," premiered in 1988. Burrell teaches at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2006, the composer became the Artistic Director of Spitalfields Festival in London. That same year, she was awarded a fellowship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council at the Royal Academy of Music. She was also the artistic director of the Festival from 2012 to 2014.
Her Christmas carol for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in 1993 was "Christo Paremus Cantica" which is based on an anonymous 15th Centruy text. It is available on the United Music Publishing Limited website. Some history and lyric of the text can be found at hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com.
Burrell's Christmas works are not many, but they include the recent "Green Groweth the Holly" (2019) which was included in a recording by Choirs of St Catharine's College, Cambridge in 2020 for their album Alpha & O: Music for Advent & Christmas on Resonus Limited.
For further works by Burrell, see United Music Publishing Limited's webpage and she also has a YouTube channel.
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New Recording off Signum Classics by Helen Charlston focuses on Elizabethan Christmas
A new recording off Signum Classics focuses on Christmas in Elizabethan times. By mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and viol consort Fretwork, it was released in July 2021.
The recording includes pieces by William Byrd, Anthony Holbourne, Orlando Gibbons, and Martin Peerson.
Signum Classics description is as follows:
With celebrations confined strictly to the 12 days from Christmas Eve
to Epiphany, the preceding Advent was regarded as a time of religious
introspection, with music composed to mark both fasting and feasting.
Byrd’s consort songs for voice and 5 viols encompass this range, from
the joyous Out of the Orient Crystal Skies – ending with an exuberant
‘Falantidingdido’, a word whose meaning is lost to history – to his
Lullaby, a ‘song of sadnes and pietie’ that became one of Byrd’s most
enduringly famous songs.
In 2021, Fretwork celebrates its 35th anniversary. In the past three
and a half decades they have explored the core repertory of great
English consort music, from Taverner to Purcell, and made classic
recordings against which others are judged. In addition to this,
Fretwork have become known as pioneers of contemporary music for viols,
having commissioned over 40 new works.
Acclaimed for her musical interpretation, presence and “warmly
distinctive tone” (The Telegraph), Helen Charlston is quickly cementing
herself as a key performer in the next generation of British singers.
Helen won first prize in the 2018 Handel Singing Competition and was a
finalist in the Hurn Court Opera Competition, and the Grange Festival
International Singing Competition.
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Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989) was the first composer to have a carol premiered at the Festival of Nine Lesson and Carols. This took place in 1983 with his piece "In Wintertime."
For a biography of Lennox Berkley, I think the Wikipedia page on Berkeley is useful as is the Lennox Berkeley Society's page at: https://www.lennoxberkeley.org.uk.
Berkeley studied music in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and while there, was acquainted with the likes of Francis Poulenc and Igor Stravinsky, both of which Berkeley wrote musical homages to. He also studied with Maurice Ravel.
"In Wintertime" performed by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge
"In Wintertime" (Op. 123) was based on words by Betty Askwith, and as stated above, was the first-commissioned carol for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King College, Cambridge.
"Look Up Sweet Babe," Op. 43, No. 2
"Look Up Sweet Babe," Op. 43, No. 2 is a 1955 composition with text by Richard Cradshaw.
"I sing of a maiden"
Berkeley also composed a 1966 piece on the words of "I sing of a maiden."
"Sweet was the Song" Op. 43
Berkeley also tackled the text of "Sweet was the Song" Op. 43. No.3, as heard in this recording (above) by the Choir of Worcester College, Oxford under Stephen Furr (2014). It is a 1957 composition, SATB with organ.
I could not find videos that included an arraignment of Adeste Fideles for Organ and Chorale (1964) . I found it on the Wise Music catalogue website, but the website states it is "unavailable for performance." It is listed as SATB and one instrument.
Not necessarily Christmas, there is a composition by Berkeley called "Lullaby" for tenor or soprano and piano.
As for themes of winter, Berkeley has a piece of incidental music called "A Winter's Tale" as well as the "A Winter Tale Suite."
Other sacred music from Berkeley includes two pieces based on the Magnificat, one in 1968 (Op. 71) and another connected with a Nunc dimmittis for the Chichester service (Op. 99) in 1980. Wise Music says the later was commissioned for the Southern Cathedrals Festival. He also has a piece based on Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd," Op. 91. No. 1 (1975).
Berkeley focuses on the cross in his 1955 Crux fidelis, Op. 43, No. 1 which was written by Peter Pears and dedicated to Imogen Holst; two masses, the Missa Brevis, Op. 57 (1960) and Mass for five voices, Op. 64 (1964)(Commissioned by His Eminence Cardinal Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster). "Missa Brevis" is Dedicated to Michael and Julian Berkeley and the boys of Westminster Cathedral Choir.
Berkeley also had a ten-movement Stabat mater (Op. 28) and his "Three Latin Motets," Op. 83 no.1 (1972) is SSATB based on "a text for Passion Sunday, Eripe me
(Deliver me, O Lord); the second, Veni Sponsa (Come thou Bridge of
Christ) is to a text proper to the Feast of Virgins and Martyrs and the
third is a Maryan anthem, Regina Coell (Queen of Heaven), proper
to/season from Easter Sunday to the Friday before Pentecost." Wise Music. The composer also has a "Salve Regina" Op. 48 for choral ensemble.
Based on a hymn tune written to celebrate the 14th centenary of the death of St Columba, Berkeley also composed "Christ is the World's Redeemer " (Gartan) (1963) for a cappella chorus and instrument. The composer wrote music on "Four Poems by St. Theresa de Avila" (1947). In 1944, he wrote "Lord, When the Sense of Thy Sweet Grace," Op. 21 no.1 (1944) (SATB).
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"While Shepherds Watched" became the English-Speaking World's Most Popular Carol during Religious Strife
by R. Rojas
Updated Nov. 15, 2024 for broken links and additional compositions.
White Christmas by Irving Berlin was released in 1942. Bing
Crosby’s version has sold about 50 million copies since and is the world’s
best-selling single.[1]
Adding other artist’s versions, it comes out to about 100 million copies.[2]
Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas Is you” was described by The New Yorker, as "one of the few
worthy modern additions to the holiday canon." In 2019, it got to the top
of the Billboard 100, 25 years after its original release! It has had 16 million
in sales, and it is the best-selling single by a female performer.
“White
Christmas” is going on 79 years, “All I want for Christmas…” on 26.
What if
there was a Christmas hit that had a more than 100-year reign?
“While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night” may have
been the most popular Christmas song in the English-speaking world for a good
100 years or even longer.
Andrew Gant states the carol can “…tell the entire
history of congregational singing in England.”[3]
This carol rose to fame during intense religious strife, religious oppression,
and republican and monarchist fighting of the English Civil War, the Restoration,
and the Glorious Revolution. Further, it became popular during the age of
exploration and American colonization.
The song is based on Luke 2:8-14. For many Protestants, this
was the big hit of the day.
It was the first carol to be published along with 15 hymns
in the 1700 Supplement in New Versions of
Psalms of David by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady in 1696.[4]
The editors of the New Oxford Book of
Carols (NOBC) say that although it was assumed Tate wrote the lyrics,
evidence is lacking in support of this. If Tate did write them, this means this popular English carol was written by an Irishman.
Ian Bradley says the Church of Scotland revised the lyrics in the mid 1700s, totally changing the opening verse:
While humble shepherds watched their flocks
In Bethlehem's plains by night,
An angel sent from heaven appeared,
And filed the plaints with light.
(Bradley 396).
England and the Colonies at the time of Composition
What was the world like in the late 1600s when this carol
became popular? To put this in the timeline, remember that anything Christmas
was banned in Puritan England. In 1549, the first version of the Book of Common Prayer was published. By
1561, in Calvinist Scotland, Christmas was under attack therefore limiting
Christmas traditions in Scotland for a century or more. Calvinists in England
also went on the attack.
Although Queen Elizabeth I turned a blind eye to such
protests, when James I took the throne, it was feared Christmas would be a
thing of the past, James being from Scotland.[5]
Nevertheless, James I was a fan of Christmas, even ordering
the nobility to return to their estates to spend Christmas there. Puritan movements
against Christmas proceeded under Charles I, and when the monarchy was
overthrown (1649), so went Christmas[6]
— well, at least open celebrations of the holiday.
On Christmas Day in 1643, it is said that London shops
remained open as if it was any other day, much to the chagrin of local
apprentices. Churches were closed; Parliament continued.[7]
In 1644, Parliament issued an edict that December 25 should be a day of
fasting, not because of Christ’s birth, but because it coincided with a “monthly
mandatory fast.”[8]
In January 1645, Parliament issued the Directory for
Public Worship of God declaring Sunday the only “holy day” and prohibiting celebrations
on any other day. In June 1647, with the King gone, Parliament passed a law
outlawing Christmas altogether. In 1652, in Parliament, a “Remonstrance Against Christmas”
was read reading: “no observance shall be had on the five-and twentieth of
December….”[9]
However, the population was against the prohibition of Christmas,
and with the Restoration in 1660, Christmas returned.
However, in the colonies, prohibition against Christmas
continued in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[10]
In 1659, the colonial government issued laws enacting fines against those
observing Christmas.[11]
In Connecticut, they also banned Christmas. Celebrating Christmas was not popular in
this part of what is now the United States until the late 1800s.
Christmas was
an ordinary day of work in Boston until 1856, and schools were not closed on
Christmas Day until 1870.[12]
After the Restoration, the monarchy was at odds with the New England
governments, with many crown-appointed governors celebrating Christmas. In
1686, Puritans “barred the new governor from holding a Christmas service in
their meeting house and forced him to move to the Boston town hall.”[13]
To put the religious favor in perspective in New England, in
1635, Roger Williams was banned from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. [14]In
1656, the Massachusetts Bay Colony imprisoned two Quakers for preaching in
Boston. Puritans later banished them from the colony. In 1660, the Boston
Puritan government, hanged three Quakers for preaching, these executed Quakers
being called the “Boston Martyrs.”
Often the Crown had to step into forbid the Massachusetts
Bay Colony and Connecticut from oppressing religious dissent. In 1661, King
Charles II, in response to the Boston Martyrs, forbade executions of anyone
professing Quakerism. Later after the Restoration in 1684, the Massachusetts
Bay Colony’s charter was revoked due to continuing religious persecution
of non-Puritans as well as other reasons. It was in 1686, England sent a royal
governor, and in 1689 passed the second Toleration Act. Also occuring around this time were the Salem Witch Trials which occurred from February 1692 to May 1692.
The Text and Tunes
Therefore, this was the era in which “While Shepherds Watch”
came out. The editors of the NOBC say the carol “is in common measure, with
lines 8.6.8.6 syllables, and this meant that by far the widest number of tunes
could be drawn upon.”[15]We will post some funny examples of this below.
These same editors estimate there are
“hundreds” of settings for this carol and only include seven in the NOBC. Of
course, “Winchester” or “Winchester Old” is the most popular.[16]
Besides its measure making it easy to set with different
tunes, the NOBC editors call it “the only legally authorized Christmas hymn.”[17]
As mentioned above, the 1700 Supplement became very popular and was:
“bound up with copies of The Book of Common Prayer…thus was
disseminated across the country, and it was not until the 1782 ‘University
Press’ edition of the New Version that it was joined by Wesley’s (altered)
‘Hark! The herald angels sing’ and Phillip Dodridge’s “High let us swell our
tuneful notes’, by which time other Christmas texts were already in
circulation….”[18]
The editors state: “The Book of Common Prayer made no
specific provision for seasonal hymns, and it was only with the inclusion of
‘While shepherds watched’ in the 1700 Supplementto the New Version of the Psalms (which
were bound up with prayer-books) that a Christmas hymn acquired an honorary
official status.”[19]
Of the different styles, Andrew Gant has said, “Their
musical styles, too, allow glimpse into all sorts of corners of English life
and its communal musical voice. Some have the sonorous, three-part harmony,
tune doubled at the octave by tenors, which grew directly out of the old
medieval techniques of improving harmony around a familiar tune.”[20]
Gant adds, like the NOBC editors, “The key to this hymn’s enduring popularity
must lie in its universality and its simplicity.”[21]
Like questions regarding the films "It’s a Wonderful Life" and "A
Christmas Story," on whether they became popular because they were spoon fed
to us. This is especially the case with "A Christmas Story" that has received a
24-hour run near Christmas for almost 30 years.
Was "While Shepherds Watched" force fed on us?
Being the only “legal”
carol, was “While Shepherds Watch” spoon fed to the English-speaking world and
thus its popularity? The popularity is
in the many musical versions and its simplicity.People are not dumb; they know good music
when they see it. It would not be joined by another carol in the Supplement until 1782, these being "Hark! the herald angels sing" and "High let us swell our tuneful notes."
List of tunes
Some of the tunes starting with the most popular are "Winchester" ("Winchester Old"), "Cranbrook" (Thomas Clark), "Adderly," "Bampton," "Bedford," "Bolton," "Cabyn," "Cambridge New," "Canterbury," "Carolina," "Christchurch (or St. Christchurch)," "Christmas," "Comfort," "Cranbrook," "Fern Bank," "Ford," "Greetland," "Hail!ChimeOn," "Hampton," "Jackson's tune," "Leicester," "Liverpool," "Lyngham," "Lloyd," "Martinstown," "Mocrhdard Bishop," "Old Beer," "Old Foster," "Old Ranter Melody," "Otford," "Pentonville," "Redruth," "Roadwater," "Shropshire Funeral Hymn, "St. Cloud," "Sung by the carolers at Barton-St-David," "Tom’s Boy," and "Zadoc." We list more below.
I have put videos of some of the tunes. Some are repeated. Where I could not find the carol set to a that particular tune, I included a video of the tune, or a video of the tune as used by another song or hymn. With exception of the first four tunes ("The Archers," "Supercalifragilistic," "Winchester," "St. James," and "Cranbook") I have put them in alphabetical order by title or by composer's last name.
An example of how "While Shepherds Watched" can be set to a variety of tunes, there is one set to the BBC Radio show "The Archers":
1. "The Archers" theme:
"Barwick Green" is the name of The Archer's theme. It is from a maypole dance from Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood's suite My Native Heath, written in 1924.
2. Another set to "Supercalifragilistic" (Richard and Robert Sherman):
3. Starting with the most used, "Winchester" or "Winchester Old":
"Winchester" was renamed "Winchester Old" at some time because someone had named another tune "Winchester New" ("Winchester New" is the musical setting for "On Jordan's Bank the Baptist Cry").
"Winchester" is the most popular tune for this carol since the advent of recording. According to the editors of the NOBC, the tune predates the lyrics by a century and its earliest documented link to the carol was in 1708. That year, state the NOBC editors, "the melody and a bass were printed in the sixth edition of the Supplement...." The editors notes are ambiguous, but I think they say on their note that "Winchester's" melody and bass were included but it was in addition to the full musical setting to "St. James," (citing The English Hymnal 1933) a tune I have included below.
"Winchester" was used for Psalm 84 "O God of hosts, the mighty Lord." The carol is found in its entirety, linked to "Winchester" in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861) by William Henry Monk.
The editors of the NOBC say the tune is found in 1592's Whole Booke of Psalms, with their wonted Tunes, as they are sung in churches, composed into foure parts... Compiled set to Psalm 811 by George Kirbye. In 1972, Nichalas Temperley linked the tune to a descant in a tune by Christopher Tye.
For use in the late 20th Century, David Willcocks and Reginald Jacques, in 1961's Carols for Choirs 1: Fifty Christmas Carols, use "Winchester" ascribing it to the Este Psalter, 1592. They also used an "alternate version" with T. Revencroft's (1621) harmonies. In her Penguin Book of Carols (1966), Elizabeth Poston also uses "Winchester" (described as "Winchester Old"), ascribes it to the Este Psalter, 1592, and includes her own harmonization. "Winchester" is used in the 1969 Methodist hymnal (United Methodist Church) and the 2014 Presbyterian USA hymnal Glory to God. It is also used in the Episcopal Hymnal 1982, but also used a 1985 tune composed by McNiel Robinson called "Hampton."
Furthermore, the 1978 Himnario Bautista (Baptist Hymnal) which is used in Hispanic Baptist churches in the United States and in Mexico and Latin America also uses "Winchester" for the carol. The carol in Spanish is called "Pastores Cera de Belen" (Shepherds Near Bethlehem).
4. "St. James"
5. "Cranbrook" - Thomas Clark:
"Cranbrook," composed by Thomas Clark, has been named by many sources (e.g.,Keyte and Parrot, Bradley, Gant) as the second most popular tune. The editors of the NOBC have it as their fifth tune. Scholars trace it to Canterbury, England, where the cobbler Thomas Clark lived. "Cranbrook" is the same tune as "On Ilkley moor Baht'at'," much popular in York (seeO"n Ilkley moor Baht'a" below). Ian Bradley says the tune was used in 1749 by Joseph Watts in A Choice Collection of Church Musick (Bradley, 297). Its name comes from the southeast English town of the same name. Clark's version is in The
Wartburg Hymnal (Chicago: Wartburg Publishing House, 1918). For a more thorough look at "Cranbrook" see Andrew Gant's chapter on "While Shepherds Watched."
List proceeds alphabetical after this point.
6. #211 in the 1985 edition of the LDS Hymnbook (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints):
The LDS Hymn book attributes this version to "Yorkshire carol" circa 1800.
7. Ancient Cornish Carol
8. "Richard Alison"
"Anglia"
"Anglia" is described as an "English carol" in some hymnals. Hymnary.org says the tune is in three known hymnals.
"Athens"
No video or audio.
This tune is by F. Giadini (1760). Hymnary.org says the tune appears in forty hymnals. Giadini was Italian and apparently a gifted violinist. "Athens" has also been used for "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." See the page from the New Christian Hymnal Cincinnati 1887).
Maltbie D. Babcock (1882)
Babcock was from Syracuse, New York and was a Presbyterian minister. His 1903 Hymns and Carols has "While Shepherds Watched."
9. J.S. Bach (ar. Joseph Cooper)
"Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich," J.S. Bach:
The Cambridge Carol-Book (at #34) has an arrangement by Charles Wood and George
Ratcliffe Woodward on J.S. Bach's "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich."
The tune "Bavaria" is found in 44 hymnals and was used for the carol. We neither have a year when this was written nor by whom.
12. "Michael Beasly" or "Beasly":
"Beasley" sounds very similar to "Sherborne." Written by Michael Beasley (1746), it is the fourth tune mentioned in the NOBC. It is mentioned in various Thomas Hardy writings so it may have relations to Dorset. The editors of the NOBC say it was published in Beasley's Collection of Twenty New Psalms Tunes (1746) and used for Psalm 8. It was linked to "While Shepherd Watched."
13. "Bedford"
14. Traditional: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night (Arr. Donald A. Bedford and Philip Bedford) - Australia
15. Bellman's carol melody (1871):
The tune is known by at least four different titles. Sandy (Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern 1833) and Sharp (English Folk-Carols 1911) called it "The moon Shines Bright."
Bramley and Stainer (Christmas Carols Old and New, 1871) called it "The Waits' Song and Ian Bradley "The Waits Carol" (The Penguin Book of Carols, 1999). Dunstan called it "Old Waits Carol." The editors of the Oxford Book of Carols call it "The Bellman's Song" or the "The Bellman's Carol." Husk (Song of the Nativity, 1868) calls it "The Moon Shone Bright."
16. "Bisley" (Gloucestershire, England):
I have wondered if "Bisley" is a play on "Beasley." See "Beasley" above.
17. "Bethlehem"
"Bethlehem" by William Billings (1746-1800) appears in four hymnals. It is used for other carols. Of course, Billings is called "the father of American choral music."
Tune "Bethlehem", arr. Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900):
"Bethlehem" is in the The
Wartburg Hymnal (Chicago: Wartburg Publishing House, 1918) at #120. There is attributed to G.W. Fink. Also see Arthur Sullivan below.
18. William Billings (United States):
Bolton
No video found.
"Cabyn"
No video found.
"Braintree"
This tune is found in The American Vocalist: a selection of tunes, anthems, sentences, and hymns, old and new: designed for the church, the vestry, or the parlor; adapted to every variety of metre in common use. (Rev. ed.), which was edited by Rev. D. H. Mansfield and published in 1849 in Boston:
19. "Camborne":
20. "Cambridge" Ralph Harrison (1784) arranged by S.S.Wesley (1872):
"Cambridge":
21. "Cambridge New" "Cambridge New" by John Randall (1715-1799):
I put a link to the tune above. According to Hymnary.org, the tune "Chesterfield" appears in 218 hymnals. However, when you click on the like to "Chesterfield" it takes you to a page regarding the tune "Richmond" composed by Thomas Haweis (1734-1820). Haweis served at curate in an Oxford church in 1757 but was removed due to his Methodist leaning. The site says "Richmond" was another name for the "Chesterfield". Haweis later lived in Northhamptonshire and Wales. He later published a Bible commentary. "Richmond" (a.k.a. "Chesterfield") is also use for "Joy to the world" and "O For a Thousand Tongue to Sing."
Above, "Hark the Glad Sound" to the tune "Chesterfield"
22. "Chestnut":
"Chestnut" is the third tune mentioned in the NOBC. The major-mode version is the tune used for "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman." The above video has the minor-mode. The minor-mode version is also used for "A Wassail Tune." Elizabeth Poston says of "Chestnut" as used for "While Shepherds Watched": "Their traditional tune is what would appear to have been an early corruption by misreading in a major key of the modal tune of God rest ye merry with a different ending...." (Poston, 31).
23. Bob Chilcott arr.:
One of the newest versions by a contemporary composer.
24. "Chime On" (Sheffield)
25. "Christchurch":
"Christ Church":
"Christmas"
I think this is a generic term, but frequently listed as the tune for this carol, however, the tunes are often many of the tunes listed here.
"Comfort"
No Video found.
26. Craig Courtney:
Craig Courtney is another contemporary composer. From Indiana (U.S.), his version of "While Shepherds Watched" has proved to be popular with choirs.
27. "Crowle" ("Crowley"?)
"Crüger"
By Johan Cruger (1657), found in the The Concordia Hymnal
(Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1932), #13.
28. George Dunn
29. "Dunstan":
I tread carefully here because there are various versions that Ralph Dunstan included in his The Cornish Song Book (1929) so there may be various tunes that are described as "Dunstan." "Dunstan" is the sixth tune in the NOBC is a rather recent one. The Dunstan in question is Ralph Dunstan who published this tune in his Second Book of Christmas Carols (1925), but he gives the source of the tune to 'Edward V. Webers MS Book, 1850.' In Dunstan's Cornish Song Book (1929), Dunstan writes: ""This was a very popular Tune in many parts
of Cornwall. It belongs to the Redruth-Camborne group, and was particularly well
harmonized in my old MS. copy; hardly a note needed correction.""
In The Cornish Song Book, Dunstan describes one tune as "While Shepherds, Old." He also includes one called "Crowley" (see "Crowle" above). Dunstan says it is found in Davies Gilbert. Dunstan also makes a commentary that he knew of twenty versions in Cornwall alone citing "ould Zadok" as the oldest. See "Zadock" below.
"Ephrath"
No video found.
Composer is Alonzo P. Howard (1873) who was of Boston, Massachusetts. His works include:
Selected Christmas Carols (1892). Seesheet music on Hymnary.org.
30. "Expectation" (Southern Pennines, England)
:
31. "Fern Bank":
32. G. W. Fink:
May be the same as "Bethlehem." There is a version attributed to Sullivan, but it may be that Fink's version was included in Sullivan's Church Hymns (1874).
"Ford"
No video found.
33. "John Foster" (Taverner Choir & Players):
Bradley says "Foster" is popular South Yorkshire pubs and is the same tune as "Old Foster" (Bradley, 397). Bradley says Foster was a Methodist who lived in High Green, England.
"Foster is the seventh tune mentioned in the NOBC, whose editors say is native to Yorkshire. It was published in John Foster's A 2d Collection of Sacred Music Consisting of Anthems, Psalms & Hymns (c.1820). It is popular in pubs in Sheffield. The NOBC editors say the Hutchens MS of Cornish Christmas, collected by Davis Gilbert, has a triple-time version of Foster's tune. They say that Daniel Read's "Sherburne" is a version of "Foster."
"Old Foster" (a.k.a. "Foster") (Dolphinholme)
34. Jacob French (Columbus Consort):
"Greetland"
35. "Run, ye Shepheard to the Light," Joseph Hayden
36. "Hail Chime On":
"Hampton"
No video found.
Another more recent one, "Hampton" is composed by McNiel Robinson (b. 1943). It has a 1985 copyright and can be found in The Hymnal 1982 (New York) which is an Episcopal Church hymnal.
37. Musgrave Heighington (c.1680 - 1764)
"Hitchen Carol"
Hymnary.org says this tune is used to "While Shepherds Watched." I could not find the sheet music. I see it is also use for "The Moon Shines Bright and Stars give Light" (a.k.a "The Waits Song" a.k.a. "The Bellman's Carol") which is the same tune as "The Bellman's Tune" (see "Bellman's Tune" above).
Robert Jackson was a parish organist at All Saints‘ Church in Oldham, Lancashire in 1903 for the Westwood Moravian Church. It remains popular in Oldham.
39. "The Laughing Policeman" (Cornwall):
40. "Leicester"
41. "Liverpoole" (Fraser Freya Boyes):
Bradley says "Liverpool" was "written around 1786 by Edward Harwood" (Bradley, 297).
42. "Lloyd"
Unfortunately, the video we had for this is no longer available.
43. "Lingham":
44. "Lyngham"
According to Ian Bradley, "Lyngham" is also popular in Yorkshire. Bradley says the tune was written in Northhamptonshire in 1803 by Thomas Jarman, a Baptist, but written for a Methodist choir. The carol to this tune is also said to be popular in Cornwall where it is usually associated with "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing." "Lyngham" appear as a tune in 51 hymnals according to hymnary.org.
45. "Lyngham" (Kent)
46. "Lydia":
"Lydia" as played in the above video to the hymn "O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" is found as a version for the carol in A Collection of Dorset Carols (1926) by W. A. Pickard-Cambridge at #12. It is ascribed to T. Phillips in that book.
47. Maddern Williams:
48. "Martinstown," (Martinstown, Dorset), (c. 1835)(Ridgeway Singers and Band):
49. "Martyrdom" (1800) by Huge Wilson
"New Tregoney"
Dunstan (see "Dunstan" above) found this tune in a manuscript of W.C. Dunstone and dates it to 1800 to 1810 and says it was popular in Cornwall. It is found in The Cornish Song Book (1929) by Dunstan (pg. 144).
51. Aria 'Non vi piaque inguisti dei' from from G.F. Handel's opera "Siroe, Re dei Persia (1728)" (sometimes called by the tune "Handel" or "Siroe"):
Several scholars in the United Kingdom have said "Siroe" was the most popular tune for "While Shepherds Watched" in the United States. It is the second tune of the carol in the NOBC. I grew up in the Southwest United States in the Southern Baptist tradition. "While Shepherds Watched" was not a very popular carol in my part of the country so it is difficult for me to find what was the most popular tune for this carol in the States.
I wonder if "Siroe's" popularity was on the Eastern seaboard. I. H.
Meredith, Grant Colfax Tullar and J. W. Lerman include "Siroe" in their Sunday School Hymns No. 1. (1903).However, I do have a copy of American Hymnal published by Broadman Press in 1926, and it does use Handel's music for the carol.
Nevertheless, the "Siroe" is used in United Methodist Church's current hymnal (1989). The 1969 edition used "Winchester Old." Presbyterian Church USA used both tunes in their 2013 Glory to God hymnal. The editors of the NOBC suspect Lowell Mason of putting the carol to Handel's aria.
"Old Beer"
No video found.
"Old Ranter"
No video found.
52. "Otford" (Warwickshire):
53. "Owen"
No video or audio.
This version is by Richard Owen and is found in Hymns for the Children of the Church (England: Foundress of the Church Extension Association 1907).
54. "Padstow"
See "Zadoc" below.
55. Owen Park:
56. "Pendeen" (Cornwall) version:
57. "Pentonville":
58. "Pentonville" (Sheffield):
59. Pentonville:
60. Pentonville (Sheffield):
61. "Portloe":
See "Zadoc" below.
62. "Richmond"
See "Chesterfield" above.
63. "Roadwater" (West Somerset, England):
64. Jane Savage (1752/3 - 1824):
In the notes to the above video by the Girl Choristers of Ely Cathedral, it says "Jane Savage’s carol from 1785 was unearthed during research into charity
hospital music by Rachel Webber. It is the earliest known Church of
England hymn by female composer."
65. "Shackleford"
Composed by Frederick H. Cheeswright. All we know about him is that hymnary.org found this little blip: "Late 19th Century Mr. Frederick H. Cheeswright, a prominent musician in New York, and
better known to us locally as director of the North Shore Choral
Club..."
--www2.portnet.k12.ny.us/schreibertimes/1927-1928
"Shaw Lane" remains popular in the Pennines of West Yorkshire, Todmorden especially.
"Shining Star"
No video or audio.
Composer of this tune is Terry Wootten and the tune is in the 1991 The Sacred Harp: #461 and in The American Christmas Harp: #125.
67. "Shropshire Funeral Hymn":
68. "Sherburne" - Daniel Read (1757-1836)(Quire Cleveland)
"Sherburne: (Shapenote)
"Sherburne" was a very popular tune. It was composed in 1785 and popular with Sacred Harp singers.
69. "Spes Celestis"
No video found.
Hymnary.org states that this tune is found in seven hymnals. Forms and Hymns for Christmas: for use of Sunday school and churches (Philadelphia 1906) used this tune for the carol. This text was used by the Reformed Church in the United States. See sheet music on Hymnary.org.
This tune is by composer Louis Spohr. Spohr composed many things but this one just used his last name as its title. Here's a page from The Hymnal and Order of Service (1926) of the Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod of North America.
71. "St. Anne"
No video found, but the tune is on Hymnary.org: "St. Anne".
This tune is by William Croft (1678-1717). Hymnary.org says the tune is found in an astonishing 549 hymnals. Croft became organist at Westminster Abbey in 1709 and was a prolific composer.
"St. Cloud"
No video found.
72. "St. Martin's"
Composed by William Tans'ur (1700-1783). Hymnary.org says this tune is in 120 hymnals.
"St. Magnus" is a tune by Jeremiah Clark (b. London, England, c. 1670; d. London, 1707). Hymnary.org says the tune is in 238 hymnals. Hymnary.org also quotes from the Psalter Hymnal Handbook (1988):
ST. MAGNUS first appeared in Henry Playford's Divine Companion
(1707 ed.) as an anonymous tune with soprano and bass parts. The tune
was later credited to Jeremiah Clark (b. London, England, c. 1670; d.
London, 1707), who was a chorister in the Chapel Royal and sang at the
coronation of James II in 1685. Later he served as organist in
Winchester College, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Chapel Royal. He shot
himself to death in a fit of depression, apparently because of an
unhappy romance. Supported by Queen Anne, Clark was a prominent composer
in his day, writing songs for the stage as well as anthems, psalm
tunes, and harpsichord works. One well-known piece, the Trumpet Voluntary, was long attributed to his contemporary Henry Purcell (PHH 612) but is now recognized as Clark's composition. Robert Bridges (PHH 386) and Ralph Vaughan Williams (PHH 316) reintroduced Clark's hymn tunes for congregational use in the twentieth century in the Yattendon Hymnal (1899) and The English Hymnal (1906).
Although ST. MAGNUS was originally used as a setting for Psalm 117, it
has been associated with this text since they were combined in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern.
The tune is named for the Church of St. Magnus the Martyr, built by
Christopher Wren in 1676 on Lower Thames Street near the old London
Bridge, England.
ST. MAGNUS consists of two long lines, each of which has its own
sense of climax. The octave leap in the final phrase has a stunning
effect, like a vault in a Gothic cathedral. Assign stanzas for
antiphonal singing in unison and/ or in harmony. Organ accompaniment
should be lively, with full, bright registration.
77. "Sweet Bells" (a.k.a. "Sweet Chiming Bells"):
"Sweet Chiming Bells" is a folk tune sung in
South Yorkshire and Derbyshire. A refrain referring to bells is added to the text.
77. "Teignmouth"
No video or audio found.
This anonymous tune is found in three hymnals dated from 1902 to 1923. Here is the page from Hymns for the Living Age under the name "Nativity."
77. "Thompson"
No video or audio.
Will L. Thompson (1847-1909) was a songwriter and publisher from Ohio. He published the New Century Hymnal in 1904 which included his tune for the carol:
77. "Tom's Boy" (Porlock, West Somerset, England)
78. "University"
79. Watersons:
80. Wessex (arr. Townsend):
"While Shepherds, New":
Dunstan (see "Dunstan" above) wrote in The Cornish Song Book (1929)(see p. 98) that this was popular in Cornwall belonging to the Redruth-Carborne group.
81. "Will's Organ Study No. 23 (arr. Uzziah Christopher Burnap (Canterbury Choir, 1952)(see "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear [American]):
82. Richard Storrs Willis 1850 (see "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear')
Dunstan mentioned "Zadoc" in his The Cornish Songbook (1929)(p. 97), although he spells it "Zaddock." He mentions it in his entry on "Crowley" saying that "Zaddock" was the oldest of twenty version that he was familiar with of "While Shepherds Watched" in Cornwall. He states "Zaddock" is also known as "Padstow" and "Portloe." He states that Cornwall singers had "discarded" "Zaddock" by 1866 in favor of "While Shepherds, Old" ("Dunstan")(see "Dunstan" above).
85. arrangement by Trepte, performed below by the Choir of Ely Cathedral. Arranged at least by 2017:
86. Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, 1952 (soprano part)(other parts on YouTube):Note: One commentator on the YouTube video states: "I have only heard this sung on the old album entitled 'The Christmas
Story', narrated by Franklin Engelmann and Judith Chalmers (1963)"
________________________
Below are other versions we have found after the publication of this article.
[10]
“United States,” in Bowler, Gerry, The
World Encyclopedia of Christmas. McClelland & Steward Ltd., 2000. Often
scholars say Christmas was banned in what is now the United States, but do not
limit their comments to the colonies under Puritan control. Further, they do
not limit their comments to the English colonies. We are aware that Christmas
celebrations continued in other parts of what is now the United States. This
includes the former Spanish (colonization in West Texas began in 1659 and in
the rest of Texas in 1690) (New Mexico founded in 1598) (California 1669),
French (as early as 1673 [French in Texas in 1685]), and Russian claimed
regions (Alaska 1732). Also Oregon as early at 1774 and Washington as early as
1775. Furthermore, Christmas celebrations probably continued among the Virginia
colony (founded 1607), Rhode Island (chartered 1644), Swedish colonies (f. 1638),
New Netherlands (f. 1624) (taken over by English in 1664), New York [separated
from New England in 1683], the Carolinas (chartered 1663), Jersey (chartered
1674), Pennsylvania (chartered 1681), Delaware (chartered 1701), Georgia (1732)
. Maryland (f. 1632) had open dispute between Puritans and the Catholic leaders.
[14]
Compare with other colonies: Rhode Island passed a law in 1636 prohibiting religious
persecution. The Maryland Colony passed its Toleration Act in 1649.[14]
