<P> Holst's setting, "Cranham", is a hymn tune setting suitable for congregational singing, since the poem is irregular in metre and any setting of it requires a skilful and adaptable tune . The hymn is titled after Cranham, Gloucestershire and was written for the English Hymnal of 1906 . </P> <P> The Darke setting, written in 1909 while he was a student at the Royal College of Music, is more advanced . Each verse is treated slightly differently, with solos for soprano and tenor (or a group of sopranos and tenors) and a delicate organ accompaniment . This version is favoured by cathedral choirs, and is the one usually heard performed on the radio broadcasts of Nine Lessons and Carols by the King's College Choir . Darke served as conductor of the choir during World War II . Darke omits verse 4 of Rossetti's original, and bowdlerizes Rossetti's "a breastful of milk" to "a heart full of mirth", although later editions reversed this change . Darke also repeats the last line of each verse . </P> <P> Benjamin Britten includes an elaborate five - part setting of the first verse for high voices (combined with the medieval Corpus Christi Carol) in his work A Boy was Born . </P> <P> Other settings include those by Robert CL Watson, Bruce Montgomery, Bob Chilcott, Michael John Trotta, Robert Walker, Eric Thiman, who wrote a setting for solo voice and piano, and Leonard Lehrman . </P>

In the bleak midwinter frosty wind made moan lyrics