Bells across the Snow, in its original incarnation as a song for 4 part voices, is believed to have been composed around 1872, during the 3 years that the French composer Charles Gounod spent in London. In fact, there is some question about whether Gounod was 100% responsible for the song. Some suggest that it was in fact an independent adaptation of an extract from one of the composer’s larger works, arranged for voices by a third party, but marketed by the publishers as entirely by Gounod himself. Certainly, Gounod is known to have been involved in a legal dispute with his London publishers over sub-standard, and supposedly unauthorised, arrangements being presented as his own work – but he lost the case.

The lyrics of Bells across the Snow were by a renowned religious writer of the time, Frances Ridley Havergal. These reflect on the joys of the festive period, but also on the more melancholy thoughts the season brings, with its recollections of absent friends and family.