IRBY
HenryJ. Gaundett composed IRBY for the text and published it in the pamphlet Christmas Carols, Four Numbers (1849) in a unison setting with piano accompa niment. Because of the hymn’s traditional use (since 1918) as a processional hymn for the annual lessons and carols festival at King’s College, Cambridge, various composers have provided glorious harmonizations for the tune, including the descant setting by David Willcocks in the Psalter Hymnal and the Arthur Mann setting found in many modern hymnals. In the King’s College festival a boy soprano sings the first stanza unaccompanied—a stunningly beautiful effect! Named after a village in Lincolnshire, England, IRBYis a graceful tune that returns to the tonic in five out of six phrases. It is in rounded bar form (AABA). This hymn is a good candidate for antiphonal singing. Try having the children sing stanzas 1 and 3, the choir or full congregation sing stanzas 2 and 4, and the entire group sing stanza 5 in unison, with the choir singing the descant. Liturgical Use: Christmas Eve or Christmas Day worship services, especially as a glorious processional; anytime during the church year in conjunction with worship services in which this part of the creed or eschatological themes (st. 5) are preached; church school programs.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: From the humiliation of the Incarnation (lowly birth) to the exaltation of Christ (seated at God's right hand) and the promise of eschatological glory for believers