Item Number: S0.940053

On Christmas night all Christians sing to hear the news the angels bring.
On Christmas night all Christians sing to hear the news the angels bring.
News of great joy, news of great mirth,
News of our merciful King's birth!

This joyous Christmas song was first published by Luke Wadding, an Irish bishop, in a 17th century collection called Small Garland of Godly and Pious Songs. It became known as “Sussex Carol” in the early 20th century upon being collected by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, who heard it being sung by a folk singer in Sussex, England. He later included it in his choral settings, Eight Traditional English Carols and Fantasia on Christmas Carols.

This pedal harp arrangement is in the key of G flat (with a short section in D flat mixolydian for variety, from measures 56 to 65). There are no pedal changes.

The right hand has the melody most of the time, with the left hand accompanying; but the left hand gets to take center stage from measures 33 through 47; again from measures 86 through 89; and again at the end, from measures 100 through 106.

I’ve also made a lever harp arrangement of this song, which is similar except that it’s in the key of G. If you ever wanted to play this arrangement in G instead of G flat, you could do so just by setting the pedals to the key of G at the beginning (and ignoring the key signature).

Perfect for all Christmas events: from church services, to concerts, to parties.

For more harp arrangements by Stephanie Bennett, subscribe to HarpworldMusicCo on YouTube, and visit www.harpworld.com/sheetmusic.html.

I hope you enjoy sharing this cheerful song with your listeners, during many happy holidays! — Stephanie Bennett