Once in Royal David's City is a Christmas carol originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. The carol was first published in 1848 in her hymnbookHymns for Little Children. A year later, the English organist Henry Gauntlett discovered the poem and set it to music.[1]
Henry John Gauntlett was organist at a number of London churches, including St Olave's in Tooley Street, Southwark from 1827 to 1846, Christ Church Greyfriars and Union Chapel, Islington from 1852 to 1861. He edited many hymnbooks and wrote more than a thousand hymn tunes, although his setting of "Once in Royal David's City" to the tune of "Irby" is his most famous.[3]
In Mann's arrangement, the first verse is sung by a boy chorister of the college's choir as a solo. The second verse is sung by the choir, and the congregation joins in the third verse. Excluding the first verse, the hymn is accompanied by the organ.
In The English Carol, Erik Routley notes that Mann's unaccompanied arrangement of Gauntlett's original hymn changes the character of the work into one which emphasises the acoustic space of the chapel: "with subtle art that arrangement turns the homely children's hymn into a processional of immense spaciousness."[5]
According to the tradition of the King's College Choir, the soloist of this hymn is usually chosen right before the performance, when the choirmaster decides whose voice is the strongest on the day, prior to the start of the broadcast.[6]
1 Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that Mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little Child.
2 He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable,
And his cradle was a stall:
With the poor and mean and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.
3 And through all His wondrous childhood
He would honour and obey,
Love and watch the lowly maiden,
In whose gentle arms He lay:
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as He.
4 For he is our childhood's pattern;
Day by day like us he grew,
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us he knew:
And he feeleth for our sadness,
And he shareth in our gladness.
5 And our eyes at last shall see him
Through his own redeeming love,
For that Child so dear and gentle,
Is our Lord in heaven above:
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone.
6 Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him: but in heaven,
Set at God's right hand on high,
Where like stars his children crowned,
All in white shall wait around.
![\header { arranger = "arr. A. H. Mann" tagline = ##f }
\layout { indent = 0 \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" } }
global = { \key f \major \time 4/4 \partial 2 }
rightOne = \new Voice = "melody" \relative c' {
\global \autoBeamOff \voiceOne \set Staff.midiInstrument = "church organ"
\repeat volta 2 { c4 e | f4. f8 f [(e)] f [(g)] | g4 f f a | c4. a8 a [(g)] f [(e)] | f2 }
d'4 d | c4. f,8 bes4 bes | a2 d4 d | c4. a8 a [(g)] f [(e)] | f2\bar "|."
}
verse = \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" {
<< { Once in roy -- al Da -- vid's ci -- ty
stood a low -- ly cat -- tle shed, }
\new Lyrics { Where a moth -- er laid her ba -- by
in a man -- ger for his bed: }
>>
Ma -- ry was that moth -- er mild,
Je -- sus Christ her lit -- tle child.
}
rightTwo = \relative c' {
\global
\repeat volta 2 { c4 e | c c b b | c8 [(bes!)] a4 c f | c c d c | c2 }
d8 [(e)] f [(g)] | c,4 c d e | f2 d8 [(e)] f [(g)] | c, ([e] f) [f] d4 c | c2 \bar "|."
}
leftOne = \relative c' {
\global \set Staff.midiInstrument = "church organ"
\repeat volta 2 { a4 bes |c a g f | e f a c | g a8 ([c]) c ([bes]) a ([g]) | a2 }
f4 bes | a a bes c | c2 bes4 bes | a8 ([bes] c) c c ([bes]) a ([g]) | <a f>2 \bar "|."
}
leftTwo = \relative c' {
\global
\repeat volta 2 { a4 g | a f d g, | c f, f' f | e f bes, c | f2 }
bes,8 ([c]) d ([e]) | f4 a g c, | f2 bes,8 ([c]) d ([e]) | f ([g] a) [f] bes,4 c | f,2 \bar "|."
}
\score {
\new ChoirStaff <<
\new Staff = "right"
<< \rightOne \\ \rightTwo >>
\addlyrics \verse
\new Staff = "left"
{ \clef bass << \leftOne \\ \leftTwo >> }
>>
\layout { }
}
\score { \unfoldRepeats { << \rightOne \\ \rightTwo \\ \leftOne \\ \leftTwo >> }
\midi { \tempo 4=100 }
}](http://upload.wikimedia.org/score/a/l/alvl3ei5ij9ntiti3xmc9d5stwcpi4i/alvl3ei5.png)
