once
in royal davids city
King's
College Cambridge Once in Royal David's City
Jonathan
and Charlotte - Once In Royal David's City
Once in Royal David's City
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Once in
Royal David's City is a Christmas carol originally written as poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. The carol was
first published in 1848 in Miss Cecil Humphreys'hymnbook Hymns for little Children. A
year later, the English organist Henry John Gauntlett discovered the poem and set it to
music.[1] Cecil Alexander, meanwhile, married the Anglican clergyman William Alexander in 1848 and upon her husband's
consecration became a bishop's wife in 1867.[1] She is also remembered for her hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful.
Since 1919, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at the King's College Chapel Cambridge has begun its Christmas Eve service, with Dr Arthur Henry
Mann's arrangement of "Once in Royal David's City" as the Processional
hymn.[1] Mann was organist at King's between 1876 and 1929.[2] In his arrangement, the first verse is sung by a boy
chorister of the Choir of King's Chapel 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.
This carol was the first recording that the King's College Choir under Boris Ord made for EMI in 1948.[3] Among others who have recorded it are Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Chieftains, Daniel O'Donnell,
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Petula Clark, Jethro Tull, Sinéad O'Connor andSufjan Stevens and most recently St. Paul's Choir School.
PS
The first Carol I learnt from my Mother.
PGV
PS
The first Carol I learnt from my Mother.
PGV
