User:The C of E/spc

History
The "Shepherd's Pipe Carol" was composed by John Rutter when he was 18 and studying as an undergraduate at Clare College at the University of Cambridge. Rutter stated that he believed his inspiration for writing it came from when he performed as a boy soprano during the opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors" and hearing pipe music as the title character headed for Bethlehem with the Biblical Magi. It was first performed by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge conducted by Rutter at a Christmas concert. A few days later the director of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, David Willcocks requested a copy of Rutter's manuscript for the "Shepherds Pipe Carol" and made calls to EMI for the "Shepherd's Pipe Carol" to be published in 1967. It was Rutter's first composition to be published. Rutter and Willcocks later formed a publishing partnership and compiled the Carols for Choirs series of hymnals.

There was a report that prior to the break up of the Soviet Union, choirs in the Baltic states circulated photocopies and faxes of the "Shepherd's Pipe Carol" to be sung as a symbol of resistance against Soviet control.

Lyrics
The lyrics of the "Shepherd's Pipe Carol" involve a narrative of being set during the annunciation to the shepherds in the Nativity of Jesus where a young shepherd is heard playing pipe music on the way to Bethlehem. The shepherd boy later states in the carol that he will perform his music for the baby Jesus when he reaches the stable where the Star of Bethlehem was over.