December Listening Activity – Benjamin Britten’s “This Little Babe” from A Ceremony of Carols
(~15 minute activity)
As the year winds down, this month’s listening turns to one of the most electrifying movements from Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. “This Little Babe” bursts with rhythmic intensity and vivid musical storytelling, created by the brilliant combination of treble voices and harp.
The text, by 16th-century poet Robert Southwell, describes the newborn Christ as a tiny warrior defeating darkness through innocence and light. Britten’s driving rhythms, tightly layered texture, and sparkling harp writing bring this imagery to life with excitement and urgency.
📖 Read: This Little Babe
by Robert Southwell (1561–1595)
This little Babe so few days old,
Is come to rifle Satan’s fold;
All hell doth at his presence quake,
Though he himself for cold do shake;
For in this weak unarmèd wise
The gates of hell he will surprise.
With tears he fights and wins the field,
His tiny breast stands for a shield;
His battering shot are babish cries,
His arrows, looks of weeping eyes;
His martial ensigns cold and need,
And feeble flesh his warrior’s steed.
His camp is pitched in a stall,
His bulwark but a broken wall;
The crib his trench, haystalks his stakes;
Of shepherds he his muster makes;
And thus, as sure his foe to wound,
The angels’ trumps alarum sound.
My soul, with Christ join thou in fight;
Stick to the tents that he hath pight.
Within his crib is surest ward;
This little Babe will be thy guard.
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
Then flit not from this heavenly Boy.
❄️ Things to Listen For:
Britten’s brilliant use of canon:
Verse 1: all voices in rhythmic unison, creating a unified, bold opening.
Verse 2: a two-part canon, producing a sense of chase or pursuit.
Verse 3: a three-part canon, layers of bright, urgent energy building to a peak.
Verse 4: Return to rhythmic unison, a final tightening of focus, reinforcing the poem’s closing call to courage and trust.
The relentless triple-meter ostinato driving the piece forward like a heartbeat.
Rapid repeated notes that might represent drums or “battering shots”
How the harp adds shimmer, propulsion, and icy brilliance.
🎧 Listen:
“This Little Babe” – Performed by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge
💬 Discussion Questions (poem + music):
Which lines or images from the poem do you hear most vividly illustrated in the music?
How does the progression from unison → 2-part → 3-part canon → unison again help shape the drama of the piece?
The poem portrays the baby as a warrior. Which musical elements express strength, determination, or conflict?
How does the fast, driving tempo support the poem’s intensity?
The poem emphasizes both vulnerability and power. Where do you hear these contrasts in the music?
✨ Fun Fact:
Britten composed A Ceremony of Carols in 1942 while sailing back to Britain during World War II. He discovered the medieval poems by chance in a bookstore in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In “This Little Babe,” the expanding canon cleverly mirrors the text’s imagery of light spreading and overcoming darkness.
