"While shepherds watched their flocks"[1] is a traditional Christmas carol describing the Annunciation to the Shepherds, with words attributed to Irish hymnist, lyricist and England's Poet Laureate Nahum Tate.[2] It is listed as number 936 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
It is the only one of the sixteen works in the 1700 supplement to still be sung today. It was published by Davies Gilbert (London, 1822), and William B. Sandys (London, 1833).[2] The carol is sung to a wide variety of tunes, the two most common ones being Winchester Old in the United Kingdom and a variation on a Handel aria arranged by Lowell Mason in the United States.
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Professor Jeremy Dibble of Durham University has noted that "While shepherds watched" was "the only Christmas hymn to be approved by the Church of England in the 18th century and this allowed it to be disseminated across the country with the Book of Common Prayer."[3] This was because most carols, which had roots in folk music, were considered too secular and thus not used in church services until the end of the 18th century.[4] As a result of its approved status, many tunes have been associated with this carol. The editors of the English Hymnal note that "it is impossible to print all the tunes which are traditionally sung to this hymn".[5]
In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, the standard hymn tune of "While shepherds watched" is "Winchester Old" (initially simply "Winchester"), originally published in Este's psalter The Whole Book of Psalmes from 1592. This tune was, in turn, arranged from chapter VIII of Cambridgeshire composer Christopher Tye's setting of the Acts of the Apostles in 1553.[4][6]
George Kirbye, an East Anglian madrigalist about whom little is known, was employed by Este to arrange tunes featured in his The Whole Book of Psalmes and it is his arrangement of Tye's work that appears in the psalter to accompany Psalm 84 "How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place" with the melody in the tenor.[7] The tune and hymn text were probably first published together in an arrangement by William Henry Monk for Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861.[7][8]
David Weyman's adaptation of "Christmas", taken from an aria in the 1728 opera Siroe by George Frideric Handel was arranged by Lowell Mason in 1821, and it is now this version which is most commonly used in the United States. The Hymnal Committee of the United Methodist Church, for example, selected "Christmas" for its current hymnal, published in 1989, after the previous 1966 edition had used "Winchester Old".[9] The Presbyterian Hymnal (1990) and the more recent Glory to God hymnal published in 2013 by the Presbyterian Church (USA) include both the "Winchester Old" and "Christmas" versions,[10][11] while the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 has "Winchester Old" and an alternate tune, "Hampton", composed by McNeil Robinson in 1985.[12]
American composer Daniel Read published his tune "Sherburne" in 1785, a popular setting that appeared over seventy times in print before 1810 and is still commonly sung by Sacred Harp singers. It was set to music in 1812 in Harmonia Sacra.
The hymn tune "Cranbrook" was written in 1805 by Canterbury shoe-maker Thomas Clark and named after the local village of Cranbrook in Kent.[13] It was originally set to the words 'Grace 'tis a charming sound' written by Philip Doddridge but is now better known in the UK as the tune of On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at.[4] Another popular tune for the hymn from around that time is Old Foster.
The title in the supplement was "Song of the Angels at the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour", but it has since become known chiefly by its incipit. In Tate's original it appeared as Whilst Shepherds Watched Their Flocks (i.e. 'whilst' not 'while'), but most modern hymn books print "While".[8]
A 19th-century version by Gottfried W. Fink was While humble shepherds watched their flocks and other rewritten passages (see illustration). The Hymnal 1982 published in the United States also contained a number of other modernisations, including dropping "Hallelujah" as the final line.[17]
Several years back I wrote about a discovery that the carol, While Shepherds Watched not only fits to the tune of On Ilkley Moor Baht 'at, the Yorkshire folk tune, but that may even have been the original tune.
In hymn books, the tune's actual name is Cranbrook. I've since noticed that Wikipedia even mentions that the tune is one traditionally used for this well-loved Christmas carol, although it stops short of saying that it is the original tune.
In fact, looking at the dates, it seems unlikely. The tune Winchester Old, to which While Shepherds Watched is most commonly sung today, appears in print as early as 1553. However Cranbrook was composed around about 1800. What is true is that most Christmas carols had their origins as folk music, and were originally brought into church in the west gallery musical tradition. The result is rowdy and enthusiastic singing. It was the Victorians that popularised the organ-accompanied tune we know today. So whilst Cranbrook may not be the oldest tune to this much-loved carol, its musical style is more in keeping with the way carols were traditionally sung.
First, some music. I found somewhere where someone had arranged this. I can't remember where I got it from, so as usual please contact me if you wish me not to link to this. The words and the tune are both in the public domain. You can save the image below by right-clicking, or use the attachments link at the bottom of this post.
You'll see that there are some echoes in the music above. The echoes are part of what makes this fun, so go for it! That said, the echoes of the last line ("And glory shone around", in the first verse) come quite fast, and so are trickier to sing. For that reason, for a gathering learning this for the first time, I'd suggest just singing the echoes on lines 1 and 3, and not the ones on line 4.
What God did in Bethlehem that first Christmas is the most amazing miracle. It is so exciting, it deserves being sung about with all the gusto, joy and enthusiasm we can muster. After all, the first thing God did, after explaining what's happened to some shepherds, was to fill the sky with more praising angels than you could count. The narrative flow of Luke 2 could have missed that bit. It could have gone: Jesus born, lead angel appeared to shepherds and told them what's happened in David's town, shepherds go to see this thing for themselves. But no, there was a pause to fill the sky with light and joyful sounds.
Although the tune Cranbrook is used in Yorkshire for both While shepherds watched their flocks by night and On Ilkley Moor Baht 'at, I believe it was actually collected from the town of Cranbrook in Kent. See for example Cranbrook Town Band
Thank you very much for the list David. So many lovely versions. Some of these are sung in pubs in Brighton too, Sweet Chiming Bells being a favourite. I had forgotten about Liverpool and Lloyd; I'll go and look them up. Thanks again for taking the trouble to publish a list. xx
Appropriately, his setting of While Angels Watched certainly induce singing with gusto, joy, and enthusiasm. Among YouTube recordings the least polished singers of Sherburne often create the most moving experience for singers and audience alike.
The Anglo-American quartet, Nowell Sing We Clear, used to perform both Sherburne and the Cranbrook setting in their holiday concerts (usually adding an 'original' version in which the lyrics of Rudolph the Red-Nosed reindeer were sung to Read's tune).
While shepherds watched their flocks by night is a Christmas hymn, first published in Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady's 1700 supplement to their New Version of the Psalms of David: the text is generally attributed to Tate. It describes the Annunciation to the shepherds, closely paraphrasing the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Meter is 86. 86 (C.M.).
Worship: Another possible reason the angel appeared to the shepherds in the fields is because the Good Shepherd had just been born. Perhaps God saw them watching over their flocks and wanted them to see the one who watched over them. Maybe He wanted to show them just how far He would go to see that not one lamb was lost. Read John 10:14-18. Praise Jesus that He sought us out when we were lost and laid down his life for us. Pray, asking Him to find your lost friends and family members today, and like the shepherds, spread the word on your way.
Be sure to follow along daily for more devotions. You can find them here or you can download the ebook A Christmas Call to Worship: Daily Devotions for the Month of December for a full 31 days of Christmas devotions! 152ee80cbc
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