Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day

For the choral work by Gustav Holst, see This Have I Done for My True Love.

"Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing-day" is an English carol usually attributed as "traditional"; its first written appearance is in William B. Sandys' Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern of 1833.[1] However, it is almost certainly of a much earlier date; Studwell (2006) places it in the 16th century.[2] Cahill (2006) based on the phrase "to see the legend of my play" speculates that the text may be based on an earlier version associated with a mystery play of the late medieval period.[a]

Numerous composers have made original settings of it or arranged the traditional tune, including Gustav Holst, John Gardner (op. 75.2, 1965), Igor Stravinsky, David Willcocks, John Rutter, Philip Lawson, James Burton,[3] Ronald Corp, Philip Stopford, Andrew Carter, Jamie W. Hall and Jack Gibbons.

The verses of the hymn progress through the story of Jesus told in his own voice.[4][5] An innovative feature of the telling is that Jesus' life is repeatedly characterized as a dance. This device was later used in the modern hymn "Lord of the Dance".

  1. ^ Sandys 1833, p. 110.
  2. ^ William Emmett Studwell, An Easy Guide to Christmas Carols: Their Past, Present and Future, Lyre of Orpheus Press, 2006, p. 71.
  3. ^ Burton n.d.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference choralnet.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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