History

"People, Look East" was written by the English author Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965), best known today for her children's verse and for the text of "Morning Has Broken". She composed it for The Oxford Book of Carols, published in 1928, where it appeared among the volume's newly written texts set to traditional tunes. The carol looks forward to Christ's coming with a recurring call to watchfulness, addressing in turn the guest, the rose, the bird, the star and the Lord who are all, in different ways, "on their way" - a device that has made the hymn a favourite for marking the successive weeks of Advent.

Farjeon set her words to BESANÇON, an old French carol tune that had already circulated in English collections before 1928, long associated with the carol "Shepherds, Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep". The melody, in 8.7.9.8.8.7 metre, has since been arranged by several English church musicians, among them Martin Shaw, and its French folk-carol pedigree gives Farjeon's Advent text a lilting, dance-like character quite different from the more solemn tone of many Advent hymns.

Before it carried Farjeon's words, the same melody had also been known under the French title "Chantons, bergers, Noel, Noel", underlining its roots as a traditional French carol tune rather than a purpose-composed hymn setting.

The pairing of Farjeon's words with the Besançon tune proved durable: the hymn has gone on to appear in dozens of hymnals across English-speaking churches and remains one of the most widely sung modern texts for the Advent season, valued for its gentle imagery of expectant waiting rather than judgement.

Performance

This recording is a 2024 upload by St. Martin's Voices, whose channel title credits them as the performing ensemble for this setting of Farjeon's Advent carol. The video runs 2 minutes 32 seconds, a concise treatment well suited to reflective listening during the Advent season.

Sources: hymnary.org · hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com

About St Martin's Voices

The recording on this page is sung by St Martin's Voices, the professional vocal ensemble based at St Martin-in-the-Fields, the church on Trafalgar Square in London. One of the UK's most versatile professional choirs, they sing for services, concerts and broadcasts — including on BBC radio and Classic FM — and have released a number of acclaimed recordings.

Their hymn recordings are made freely available to Anglican parishes through the Church of England's A Church Near You Resource Hub, produced by Andrew Earis, Director of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields, in collaboration with the Royal School of Church Music.