A Shepherd's Carol was written for a BBC feature programme, Poet's Christmas , produced by Edward Sackville-West. It was broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1944, by the BBC Home Service, sung by the BBC Singers and conducted by Leslie Woodgate. The chorus is one of the two portions set by Britten of W.H.Auden's A Christmas Oratorio , the complete text of which was later published as For the Time Being . It was withdrawn by the composer after the first performance, not to be heard again until 1961. / Choeur SATB