Back to: The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols
This carol has been said to be of both English and French Origin, extending back to the 16th or 18th centuries in oral form. The First Noel” resembles that of medieval French epic poems, chansons de geste like La Chanson de Roland memorializing the Charlemagne legends; these poems were likewise not written down. While little of the music is preserved, the chanson de geste repeated a simple melodic formula to tell the story, very similar to the melodic structure of The First Noel.
The inspiration for the story of the song comes from dramatizations of favorite Bible stories for holidays, which were called the Miracle Plays, and were very popular during this time. It tells the story of the night that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, based on the Gospel accounts in Luke 2 and Matthew 2.
However, it was first published in England. The English title appears in The Cornish Songbook (1929), which could mean “The First Noel” originated in Cornwall, situated across the Channel from France.
The song was not transcribed until 1823 when it was published in London as part of an early anthology called Some Ancient Christmas Carols), compiled by Davies Gilbert in London, England. It was also published in a collection of seasonal carols by William B. Sandys entitled Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833). The hymn originally contained nine stanzas, five of which remain common amongst various hymnals. The version in Sandys’s collection was transcribed from Cornwall in 1827 and bears some resemblance to other melodies from the region. The stanzas consist of two identical sections, plus the refrain, which feels like a slight variant from the verse structure.
Sir John Stainer (1840-1901) standardized the melody, providing a harmonization that has become the customary one today. William Sandys published Stainer’s arrangement in Christmas Carols New and Old (1876). The eight-measure melody repeats for two times in each stanza plus the refrain. Stainer enhanced the refrain by allowing the tenors to soar to a high F-sharp on the final “Noel,” giving it a sense of climax, while the soprano maintains the repetition throughout.
The Methodist denomination of Christianity also helped to spread the song. In the areas of England where Methodism was strongest, music and singing were prominent, especially during Christmas time. And so The First Noël spread throughout the land by way of Methodist churches. By 1918 at the first service of Nine Lessons and Carols in Cambridge, ‘The First Nowell’ was chosen as the final hymn, being sung by the congregation alone.