A setting of one of his favourite Irish poets, Winifred Mabel Letts (whose poetry had formed the basis of two of his Irish song cycles, A Fire of Turf Op. 139 of 1913 and A Sheaf of Songs from Leinster of 1914), ‘The Winds of Bethlehem’, as it was originally published, appeared as the third of Six Songs Op. 175 which Charles Villiers Stanford composed sometime in 1920 or 1921. The song touchingly portrays the homage paid by the four attendant winds to the infant Christ at the Nativity. 

The solo song has been arranged here for SATB and organ as a carol for Christmas. It can be sung throughout principally in four parts with accompaniment (organ is ideal although it can be easily adapted for the piano).