The Night Watch : Noël nouvelet

’Noël nouvelet’ is a traditional French new year carol, originating in the early 15th century and becoming one of the most popular of the 16th century. The earliest complete source for the words is the Arsénal ms. 3653 in Paris, copied in the 1490s, a beautiful representation by a professional scribe for a high born family of the different types of noël or Christmas song in the French oral tradition. The Arsénal ms. does not give the tune, which did not appear in writing until the 17th century. The words used here are selected and translated from the ’Grande Bible des noels, tant vieux que nouveaux’ (’Large Book of carols, both old and new’), published in 1721. The refrain, “Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons icy“ means roughly, ’New Christmas song, Christmas song sing here!’ The hymn writer John M. C. Crum made the tune more widely known by setting his hymn, ’Now The Green Blade Riseth’, to it in 1928. From The Night Watch’s sh