The Oxen
"The Oxen" is a poem by the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy. It relates to a West Country legend: that, on the anniversary of Christ's Nativity, each Christmas Day, farm animals kneel in their stalls in homage. It was first published in December 1915, in the London newspaper The Times. It has been set to music several times.These include :
- 1919Graham Peel, for voice and piano
- 1920Edward Joseph Dent, for voice and piano
- 192122Gerald Finzi, for voice and orchestra, as the third piece in his song cycle By Footpath and Stile, Op. 2
- 1927Leslie Cochran, for voice and piano
- 1945Robert Fleming, for medium voice and piano
- 1951Armstrong Gibbs, for voice and piano
- 1954Ralph Vaughan Williams, for baritone and orchestra, No. 7 in his cantata Hodie
- 1954Robert Williams, for unison chorus and piano
- 1958Richard K. Winslow, for SATB chorus and piano or organ
- 1963William Reginald Pasfield, for unison chorus and piano
- 1967Alan Rawsthorne, for mixed chorus a cappella
- 1968Benjamin Britten, for SA chorus and piano
- 1991Jonathan Rathbone, a capella, for the SATB popular group The Swingle Singers
- 2009Derek Holman, as "Christmas Eve", for voice and piano, No.2 in his The Four Seasons
- Jonathan Elkus, for high voice and piano
