Angel Gabriel, The

DESCRIPTION: Gabriel is sent to Mary to announce that she will bear God's son. Mary is surprised at these tidings, but is assured they are true. Things come true as forecast. Listeners are enjoined to behave well as a result
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1639 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: prophecy religious Bible childbirth
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 106, "The Angel Gabriel" (1 text)
Dearmer/VaughnWilliams/Shaw-OxfordBookOfCarols 37, "The Angel Gabriel" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST OBB106 (Partial)
Roud #815
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Gabriel of High Degree" (subject)
cf. "Now we shuld syng & say newell, Quia missus est angelus Gabriell" (lyric on Gabriel and the annunciation, from Richard Hill's manuscript); see Roman Dyboski, _Songs, Carols, and Other Miscellaneous Poems from the Balliol Ms. 354, Richard Hill's Commonplace Book_, #8, pp. 4-5 (subject)
cf. "Newell, newell, newell, newell, This ys the salutacion of Gabryell" (lyric on Gabriel and the annunciation, from Richard Hill's manuscript); see Roman Dyboski, _Songs, Carols, and Other Miscellaneous Poems from the Balliol Ms. 354, Richard Hill's Commonplace Book_, #49, pp. 39-40, with a text from Wright on p. 177 (subject)
cf. "Gabriell that angelll bryght, Bryghtter than the son lyght"" (lyric on Gabriel and the annunciation, from Richard Hill's manuscript); see Roman Dyboski, _Songs, Carols, and Other Miscellaneous Poems from the Balliol Ms. 354, Richard Hill's Commonplace Book_, #17, p. 10; also in Bodleian MS. Eng. Poet. e.1 (Bodleian 29734),
NOTES [121 words]: This ballad gives a brief, but accurate, account of the events in Luke 1:26-2:20. The only unscriptural detail is Mary's betrothal by lot to "an old man," Joseph, a detail found only in the apocryphal Gospels, particularly the "Protevangelium of James."
This should not be confused with another "Angel Gabriel" carol. This one begins with these lines:
The angel Gabriel from God
Was sent to Galilee
Unto a virgin fair and free
Whose name was called Mary.
The other Gabriel carol, which I have heard sung (by Maddy Prior I think) but which does not seem to be traditional (it's reported to have been written by Sabine Baring-Gould), begins
The angel Gabriel from heaven came,
His wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.3
File: OBB106

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