People, look East. The time is near

People, look East. The time is near. Eleanor Farjeon* (1881-1965). Carlton R. Young* accurately sums up this carol as ‘this rousing and imaginative proclamation of Christ’s coming’ (1993, p. 553). It was published in The Oxford Book of Carols (OBC) (1928), where it was entitled ‘Carol of the Advent’. It was set to a French carol tune from Besançon, ‘Chantons, bargiés, Noué, Noué’, used for an anonymous carol beginning ‘Shepherds, shake off your drowsy sleep’ in Bramley* and Stainer*’s Christmas Carols New and Old (1871). The combination of words and tune became very popular for Advent Carol services, although it did not appear in mainstream books in Britain for many years. The delight of...

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