Coventry Carol dates from the 16th Century.  Traditionally sung 'a capella', the carol refers to the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew and the Massacre of the innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed.  It takes the form of a lullaby sung by mothers of the doomed children.

 

In this arrangement, the Dies Irae or 'Day of Wrath' theme heard in the introduction lets us know of the impending rage and massacre portrayed in verse three, before the music eventually subsides and resolves with calmness and assuredness with the raised third tierce de Picardy.