The Oxen: a carol for agnostics? – follow the score
26 October 2026
Thomas Hardy's poem The Oxen was published on Christmas Eve 1915, during the First World War. It pictures farm cattle kneeling at midnight on Christmas Eve, and a speaker who no longer holds the belief that goes with the story but would still go and look, "hoping it might be so".
Antony Pitts's setting for five-part choir (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass) is track 20 of The Patmos Book of Carols, sung by TONUS PEREGRINUS. His note in the booklet reads: "Written following an intense conversation in the pub with my friend and musical colleague, also Director of Music at Trinity College, Melbourne, Christopher Watson, when he introduced me to Hardy’s poem. Perhaps it’s a carol for agnostics – who knows?"
The recording ends with a surprise (mild spoiler alert). Watch it with the score turning like a printed book: The Oxen on YouTube. Read the score, and download for free with a free sign-in. Hear the whole album and read its booklet. A paperback edition of the score is also printed (Lulu).