Whilst Shepherds Watch'd Their Flocks by Night

for unison voices and organ.
Jane Savage's setting of the famous Christmas hymn 'While shepherds watched their flocks by night' was written for the girls' choir of The Asylum for Female Orphans and published in 1785. Composed in a typically charming Georgian style, it lays claim to being the earliest surviving piece composed for the Anglican church by a woman composer.

Jane Savage (1752/3-1824) was a composer, singer and keyboard player in London. She lived in Holborn as part of an artistic household: her mother Mary was a poet and her father William (1720-1789) was a prominent singer and composer. Out of eight published opus works by Jane Savage, numbers 2 to 8 survive, including a solo cantata, solo songs and duets, and pieces for keyboard. The cantata Strephan and Flavia uses a text written by her mother. Whilst Shepherds watchd their flocks by night appears to be her only surviving sacred composition, composed for the chapel choir of orphaned girls at the The Asylum for Female Orphans in Lambeth. Her secular works were written and published for private concerts at the Savage family home.