Bethlehem Down (Peter Warlock)

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• (Posted 2024-10-16)  CPDL #82377:       

Editor: Max Spicer (submitted 2024-10-16).   Score information: A4, 4 pages, 109 kB   Copyright: CC BY SA

Edition notes: This edition is created directly from Warlock's handwritten manuscript published in the Daily Telegraph on December 24 1927. That edition is Public Domain in the US but remains in copyright in the European Union, South Korea and Japan until 2028.

As noted in this edition, the original B-flat in the bass part at bars 6 and 14 has been changed to a natural. This matches how the piece is commonly performed but may not have been Warlock's original intention. Another difference is that the original lyrics say King’s gifts, whereas later editions have Kings’.

• (Posted 2023-10-21)  CPDL #76525:         

Editor: Phillip Matty (submitted 2023-10-21).   Score information: A4, 4 pages, 68 kB   Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: This Edition is based on the score published in the Daily Telegraph on the 24th of December 1927. See the link below for a scan of the MS.

• (Posted 2006-07-29)  CPDL #12141:         

Editor: John Henry Fowler (submitted 2006-07-29).   Score information: Letter, 4 pages, 82 kB   Copyright: CPDL

Possible error(s) identified. See the discussion page for full description.

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: Bethlehem Down
Composer: Peter Warlock
Lyricist: Bruce Blunt^{create page}
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Sacred, Carol

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1927
Description: 

External websites:

• https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-bethlehem-down/114928423/

  A scan of the original manuscript published in the Telegraph in 1927.

Original text and translations

English text

“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.