Patrick Comerford
Advent began yesterday on Advent Sunday, and the countdown to Christmas is truly under way.
At noon each day in Advent this year, I am offering one image as part of my ‘Advent Calendar’ for 2025, and one Advent or Christmas carol or hymn.
‘Bethlehem Down’ is a carol for SATB choir composed in 1927 by Peter Warlock (1894-1930), the pseudonym of Philip Arnold Heseltine, and is one of the carols being rehearsed by for Advent and Christmas by the choir in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.
‘Bethlehem Down’ is set to a poem by the journalist and poet Bruce Blunt (1899-1957). Warlock and Blunt wrote the carol over Christmas in 1927. They submitted the carol to the Daily Telegraph’s annual Christmas carol contest and won. ‘Bethlehem Down’ has been described as the finest of all of Warlock’s choral works and his ‘unquestioned carol masterpiece’.
When He is King we will give him the King’s gifts,
Myrrh for its sweetness, and gold for a crown,
“Beautiful robes”, said the young girl to Joseph
Fair with her first-born on Bethlehem Down.
Bethlehem Down is full of the starlight
Winds for the spices, and stars for the gold,
Mary for sleep, and for lullaby music
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.
When He is King they will clothe Him in grave-sheets,
Myrrh for embalming, and wood for a crown,
He that lies now in the white arms of Mary
Sleeping so lightly on Bethlehem Down.
Here He has peace and a short while for dreaming,
Close-huddled oxen to keep Him from cold,
Mary for love, and for lullaby music
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.
Advent Calendar 1: 30 November 2025
No comments:
Post a Comment