While shepherds watched their flocks by night
with
ST. JAMES
SHERBURNE
CHRISTMAS
WINCHESTER OLD
I. Text: Origins
This nativity hymn was first published in A Supplement to the New Version of Psalms (London: J. Heptinstall, 1700). The psalm paraphrases in the New Version (1696/8) were the collaborative work of Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, but the supplemental hymns are often credited to Nahum Tate alone, including “While shepherds watched their flocks by night” (Fig. 1), for reasons that are unclear and unproven. His name was not directly attached to any hymns in the supplement. The proper attribution should be to the collection or to Tate & Brady, not to Tate individually.
Fig. 1. Supplement to the New Version of Psalms (London: J. Heptinstall, 1700).
The original text was given in three stanzas of eight lines, without music. The text was labeled “Song of the Angels at the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour” and it was intended as a paraphrase of Luke 2:8–15. As a paraphrase, it is faithful to the biblical text, especially in comparison to the King James Version (1611). Its fidelity and simplicity are have allowed it to retain its place in hymnals for over 300 years.
Albert Edward Bailey called this paraphrase “perhaps the happiest we have of the appearance of the angels to the shepherds.”[1] Hymnologist J.R. Watson said, as a narrative biblical paraphrase, it “carries the story with unobtrusive strength and a grand simplicity.”[2] Reformed hymn scholar Bert Polman said this “straightforward telling of the nativity story is an example of paraphrasing at its best: poetry that conveys the text well without undue liberties or additions and is easy to understand and sing.”[3]
II. Text: Alteration
One notable alteration still in use, especially in Scotland, is “While humble shepherds watched their flocks.” This modification first appeared in Translations and Paraphrases of Several Passages of Sacred Scripture (Edinburgh: Robert Fleming, 1745 | Fig. 2). The first stanza was completely reconstructed, but the rest contained only minor changes, including shifts from “mighty dread” to “sudden dread,” and “swathing bands” to “swaddling bands.”
Fig. 2. Translations and Paraphrases of Several Passages of Sacred Scripture (Edinburgh: Robert Fleming, 1745).
The collection was assembled by a committee from the Church of Scotland, and they seemed to have had an aim in keeping with the character of this paraphrase:
The use for which they were intended required simplicity and plainness of composition and style. The committee who prepared them chiefly aimed at having the sense of Scripture expressed in easy verse, such as might be fitted to raise devotion, might be intelligible to all, and might rise above contempt from persons of better taste.
This revision of the angelic hymn was further modified in the 1756 edition (Fig. 3), changing “plains” to “fields” in stanza 1, and the last two lines became “Goodwill is shown by heav’n to men / and never more shall cease.” These changes were carried over into subsequent editions of 1765, 1771, and 1781.
Fig. 3. Translations and Paraphrases of Several Passages of Sacred Scripture (Church of Scotland, 1756).
III. Tunes
1. ST. JAMES
Starting with the 6th edition of the Supplement to the New Version (1708), this text carried a tune recommendation, “To St. James’s tune or any other tune of 8 and 6 syllables.” ST. JAMES was by Raphael Courteville, first published in Select Psalms and Hymns for the Use of the Parish-Church and Tabernacle of St. James’s Westminster (London: J. Heptinstall, 1697 | Fig. 4). In the 1708 Supplement, it had appeared with the New Version of Psalm 19 (Fig. 5). This recommended pairing did not materialize: the only time “While shepherds watched their flocks by night” appeared in print with ST. JAMES was in Robert Barber’s A Book of Psalmody (London: William Pearson, 1723).
Fig. 4. Select Psalms and Hymns for the Use of the Parish-Church and Tabernacle of St. James’s Westminster (London: J. Heptinstall, 1697).
Fig. 5. A Supplement to the New Version of the Psalms, 6th ed. (Savoy: John Nutt, 1708).
2. SHERBURNE
Among the more notable early tune pairings, especially in the United States, is SHERBURNE by Daniel Read, from his American Singing Book (1785 | Fig. 6). This tune, with its four-part, staggered polyphony, is called a fuguing tune. The melody is in the tenor part. This combination of text and tune appeared 36 times through 1820.
Fig. 6. Daniel Read, The American Singing Book (New Haven: Daniel Read, 1785).
3. CHRISTMAS
Another tune from the same time period sometimes associated with this text is CHRISTMAS, adapted from the aria “Non vi piacque ingiusti Dei” in Act 2 of the opera Siroe (1728 | Fig. 7) by George Frideric Handel (1685–1759).
Fig. 7. Siroe: An Opera (London: J. Cluer, 1728).
Handel’s aria was adapted as a hymn tune by Dr. Samuel Arnold for The Psalms of David for the Use of Parish Churches (London: John Stockdale & George Goulding, 1791 | Fig. 8). In that collection, the melody (appearing in the treble part), clearly labeled “Handel,” was set to a paraphrase of Psalm 72 from the New Version by Tate & Brady (1696/8).
Fig. 8. The Psalms of David for the Use of Parish Churches (London: John Stockdale & George Goulding, 1791). Melody in the treble part.
John Wilson, in an article for The Hymn, explained Arnold’s influence in this adaptation:
Dr. Arnold, a prolific and successful composer for the stage, was then organist and composer for the Chapel Royal. He was also busy editing the complete works of Handel, and so was just the man to pick out the attractive soprano aria “Non vi piacque” in the half-forgotten opera Siroe, and to see its possibilities for a hymn tune. The result was our [Fig. 4], allocated to Tate and Brady’s version of a psalm associated with the Christmas season. This became the now familiar tune CHRISTMAS, known in Britain as LUNENBURG.
The arrangement is an ingenious one, calling for the last line of each stanza to be repeated, so there are five phrases. The first three come directly from the singer’s opening phrases. To find the fourth, we have to jump ahead for 16 measures and end with the soloist’s final phrase. Handel, therefore, is not to blame for those nine consecutive E’s in the bass part; our big jump occurs in the middle of them. In any case, passages on a pedal bass were not uncommon in hymn tunes of the period.[3]
Arnold’s edition, The Works of Handel, was the first attempt at compiling Handel’s compositions, eventually released in 180 parts between 1787 and 1797, although ultimately not including Siroe. In his 1791 collection of tunes, 27 were credited to Handel. This adapted hymn tune was first dubbed CHRISTMAS in Amos Blanchard’s Newburyport Collection of Sacred, European Musick (Exeter: Ranlet & Norris, 1807). It has also gone by other names, including LUNENBURG, SIROE, DELAWARE, HARLEIGH, and SAXONY. The first known pairing of this text and tune appeared in Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church with Tunes (NY: Carlton & Porter, 1857 | Fig. 9).
Fig. 9. Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church with Tunes (NY: Carlton & Porter, 1857). Melody in the top part of the second staff.
4. WINCHESTER OLD
The tune known as WINCHESTER OLD was first printed in Thomas Est’s Whole Booke of Psalmes (London: Thomas Est, 1592 | Fig. 10), where it was set to a paraphrase of Psalm 84 by John Hopkins. In this printing, the name “G. Kirby” refers to the arranger, George Kirby (ca. 1560–1634), not the composer, who is unidentified and unknown.
Fig. 10. Thomas Est, The Whole Booke of Psalmes (London: Thomas Est, 1592). Melody in the tenor part.
Scholars regard this tune as belonging to a family of similar antecedent tunes bearing many of the same qualities. The oldest example offered as a possible precursor is from the Actes of the Apostles (1553) by Christopher Tye (ca. 1497–1572), especially the tune for Chapter 2 (Fig. 11), “When that the fifty day was come,” a song about Pentecost (Whitsunday), or possibly the second half of the tune for Chapter 8, “The death of Steven did Saul comfort.”
Fig. 11. Christopher Tye, The Actes of the Apostles (1553), melody in the meane part.
For a more detailed discussion of related antecedents to this tune, see the study by Nicholas Temperley, “Kindred affinity in hymn tunes,” The Musical Times, vol. 113, no. 1555 (Sept. 1972), pp. 905-909. This tune was named WINCHESTER by Thomas Ravenscroft in The Whole Booke of Psalmes (1621).
The pairing of “While shepherds watched their flocks by night” with WINCHESTER OLD traces to the first edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern (1861) and has become very common.
5. CAROL
See also the tune by Richard Storrs Willis, intended for “While shepherds watched their flocks by night” but now more commonly known as a setting for “It came upon the midnight clear.”
by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
28 November 2019
rev. 11 December 2019
Footnotes:
Albert Edward Bailey, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” The Gospel in Hymns (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), p. 42.
J.R. Watson, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (Oxford: University Press, 2002), p. 119.
Bert Polman, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” Psalter Hymnal Handbook (Grand Rapids: CRC, 1998), p. 350.
Related Resources:
John Julian, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” A Dictionary of Hymnology (London: J. Murray, 1892), p. 1275: Google Books
J.M. Coopersmith, “The First Gesamtausgabe: Dr. Arnold’s Edition of Handel’s Works,” Notes, vol. 4, nos. 3-4 (June–Sept. 1947), pp. 277–291, 438–449: JSTOR
Paul Hirsch, “Dr. Arnold’s Handel Edition, 1787–1797,” Music Review, vol. 8 (May 1947), pp. 106–116.
Albert Edward Bailey, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” The Gospel in Hymns (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), p. 42.
Maurice Frost, English & Scottish Psalm & Hymn Tunes (London: SPCK, 1953), no. 103, p. 136.
Erik Routley, “While shepherds watched,” The English Carol (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1958), pp. 156–159.
Nicholas Temperley, “Kindred affinity in hymn tunes,” The Musical Times, vol. 113, no. 1555 (Sept. 1972), pp. 905–909: PDF
John Wilson, “Handel and the Hymn Tune: II—Some Hymn Tune Arrangements,” The Hymn, vol. 37, no. 1 (January 1986), p. 26: HathiTrust
Richard Watson & Kenneth Trickett, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” Companion to Hymns and Psalms (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1988), pp. 102–103.
Hugh Keyte & Andrew Parrott, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: University Press, 1992), pp. 134–145.
Carlton R. Young, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993), p. 705.
Nicholas Temperley, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 181–183.
Raymond Glover, “SIROE,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3B (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 1013–1014.
Bert Polman, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” Psalter Hymnal Handbook (Grand Rapids: CRC, 1998), pp. 350–351.
J.R. Watson, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (Oxford: University Press, 2002), pp. 119–120.
Hymn Tune Index:
http://hymntune.library.uiuc.edu/default.asp
J.R. Watson, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/while-shepherds-watched-their-flocks-by-night
“While shepherds watched their flocks by night,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/while_shepherds_watched_their_flocks_by
“While humble shepherds watched their flocks,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/while_humble_shepherds_watched_their_flo