"Christians, awake, salute the happy morn" is an English Christmas hymn on a text by

John Byrom John Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS (29 February 1692 – 26 September 1763) was an English poet, the inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand and later a significant landowner. He is most remembered as t ...

. It is usually sung to the tune "Yorkshire" by John Wainright.

Text

The text of the hymn is from a poem in

iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter () is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". "Iambi ...

by John Byrom. The original manuscript, in Chetham's Library, Manchester, bears the title "Christmas Day. For Dolly", referring to the author's daughter, although there is no evidence to support the oft repeated story that it was written for her specifically. The original poem was in three paragraphs of 16 lines each (for a total of 48). The exact date of this document is uncertain, although it is usually dated between 1745 and 1750. This was later published in the author's posthumous ''Poems, &c.'' (1773) and later again in his ''Works'' (1814, vol. ii). The omission of some of the lines and re-arrangement of the remainder into singable verses appeared in combination with Wainwright's music in a 1766 publication, although the first printing for liturgical usage was Thomas Cotterill's ''Selection of Psalms and Hymns'' (1819, 8th ed.), retaken shortly thereafter in James Montgomery's ''Christian Psalmist'' (1825). The modern text, which runs to six verses of six lines, is frequently shortened, omitting one or two stanzas. The fifth verse ("Oh, may we keep and ponder in our mind") is sometimes replaced with an alternative one beginning "Like Mary let us ponder in our mind". A version by

Davies Gilbert Davies Gilbert (born Davies Giddy, 6 March 1767 – 24 December 1839) was an English engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as President of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1830. He c ...

in 8 verses, printed in ''Some Ancient Christmas Carols'' (1823), stays more faithful to the original poem. The text retells the Christmas story as contained in , referring to the

birth of Jesus The nativity of Jesus, nativity of Christ, birth of Jesus or birth of Christ is described in the biblical gospels of Luke and Matthew. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judaea, his mother Mary was engaged to a man na ...

and quoting the angel's proclamation in verses 2 and 3. Verse 4 paraphrases the shepherds adoring the newborn Jesus.

Tune

The association with the tune "Yorkshire" (sometimes also "Stockport") is an early one: some accounts describe it being sung under the direction of its composer by a group of local men and boys for Christmas 1750, some time after the writing of the poem; although it is not possible to tell how the poem was originally divided along to the tune. The first edition that has it in combination with Byrom's text is in Wainwright's only known musical publication, undated but assumed from newspaper announcements to have been published in 1766. The melody was first published in the ''Collection of Tunes'' (1761) by

Caleb Ashworth Caleb Ashworth, D.D. (1722–1775) was an English dissenting tutor. Life Ashworth was born at Cloughfold, Rossendale, Lancashire, in 1722. His father, Richard Ashworth, who died in 1751, aged eighty-four, was a lay preacher among the Particular ...

from Lancashire, who presumably "heard and liked" the tune, but as a setting for the paraphrase of

Psalm 50 Psalm 50, a Psalm of Asaph, is the 50th psalm from the Book of Psalms in the Bible, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down ...

Isaac Watts Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include "When I Survey the ...

, beginning "The God of Glory sends his Summons forth, / Calls the South Nations, and awakes the North". The melody was again reprinted by another Lancashire churchman,

Ralph Harrison Ralph Harrison (1748–1810) was an English nonconformist minister, composer and tutor. Life The son of William Harrison, presbyterian minister of Chinley, Derbyshire, was born at Chinley on 10 September 1748. In 1763 he entered Warrington Academ ...

, in his ''Sacred Harmony'' (1784): the popularity of this publication made the tune widely known, including across the Atlantic, although it is unlikely it was much sung by American congregations at the time. In England Byrom’s hymn was sung frequently as an outdoors carol, but it did not make its way into liturgical use until the 1819 publication by Cotterill. From thence it had passed by the beginning of the 20th century into most hymnals in common use, both in England and America, including

Hymns Ancient and Modern ''Hymns Ancient and Modern'' is a hymnal in common use within the Church of England, a result of the efforts of the Oxford Movement. The hymnal was first published in 1861. The organization publishing it has now been formed into a charitable ...

, the

English Hymnal ''The English Hymnal'' is a hymn book which was published in 1906 for the Church of England by Oxford University Press. It was edited by the clergyman and writer Percy Dearmer and the composer and music historian Ralph Vaughan Williams, and was ...

, and many others thereafter. Yorkshire (hymn tune)

References

Notes

Sources

*, cited in * eprint c. 1835* *, cited in * * *{{cite web , editor-last=Watson , editor-first=John Richard, title=Christians, awake! salute the happy morn. , url=https://hymnology.hymnsam.co.uk/c/christians,-awake!-salute-the-happy-morn , website=The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology , publisher=Canterbury Press , date=2013 , access-date=11 March 2021

External links

"Christians, Awake, Salute the Happy Morn (Yorkshire)"
sung by the

Choir of King's College, Cambridge The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's Coll ...

(arr.