As Shepherds Watched their Fleecy Care
The 25th Track 5
As Shepherds Watched their Fleecy Care was composed by Joseph Key, an excise officer from Nuneaton in Warwickshire, and first published in Five Anthems, Four Collects, Twenty Psalm Tunes, [etc.]. Book III. This was actually published in 1785 by his widow, Elizabeth Key, Joseph having died the previous year. There is information about Key and his published works on the website of Warwickshire West Gallery choir Immanuel’s Ground, where it notes that “His wife, no doubt dependant upon the income from his music, and possibly quite capable of taking singing classes herself, continued to publish his music for another six years after his death”. Over 100 years later, like Newton’s Double, it turned up in the repertoire of William Walton, of Adderbury.
You can hear a live recording of this carol at A Folk Song A Week Week 171 – As Shepherds Watched Their Fleecy Care.
Sophie previously sang this on While shepherds watched: Christmas Music from English Parish Churches and Chapels, 1740–1830 by Psalmody with The Parley of Instruments, directed by Peter Holman.