"The Babe in Bethlem's Manger", also called "The Babe in Bethlehem's Manger Laid", "Old Kentish Carol" and "The Saviour's Work", is an anonymous English folk

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...

celebrating the birth of Jesus in

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

History

The writer of the carol is not known. However, the lyrics are traditionally described as being a traditional folk hymn from the English county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. However

Erik Routley Erik Reginald Routley (; 31 October 1917, Brighton, UK – 8 October 1982, Nashville TN) was an English Congregational churchman, theologian and musician and arguably the most significant hymnologist of the 20th century. His nearly 40 books on the ...

noted that its composition was "very much of the 18th century". It was first published in print in 1871 by the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

's Reverend

Henry Ramsden Bramley Henry Ramsden Bramley (4 June 1833 – February 1917) was an English clergyman and hymnologist perhaps best known for his collaborations with the composer Sir John Stainer.

and hymn writer

John Stainer Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of ''The Crucifixion'', still heard at Passiontide in some churches of the Anglican Communi ...

in '' Christmas Carols New and Old''. Bramley included the commonly used tune for the carol.

Christopher Chope Sir Christopher Robert Chope (born 19 May 1947) is a British barrister and politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Christchurch in Dorset since 1997. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected in 1983 fo ...

's 1894 ''Carols for use in Church'' attributed the words as being Kentish, which was later confirmed by R R Terry in 1923 in his ''Old Christmas Carols'' anthology. The carol later passed into North America and was later published in the Evangelical Lutheran Church's ''Wartburg Hymnal'' in 1918. In 1960, it was published in the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

's ''The Church Hymnal''. A critical analysis of the hymn notes that the refrain is intended to provoke thought about the difference in people's lives without Jesus and then the later redemption through Jesus.

Music

Several composers have also written music for "The Babe in Bethlem's Manger". In 1964, an optional obbligato for flute was copyrighted in the United States by Theron Kirk. In 1973, in one of his last works before his death, British composer

Patrick Hadley Patrick Arthur Sheldon Hadley (5 March 1899 – 17 December 1973) was a British composer. Biography Patrick Sheldon Hadley was born on 5 March 1899 in Cambridge. His father, William Sheldon Hadley, was at that time a fellow of Pembroke Co ...

wrote a piece of music for the carol so it could be performed in his

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

cantata.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babe In Bethlem's Manger Christmas carols English Christian hymns Songs about Israel Songs about Jesus

History

Music

See also

References