“I Syng of a Mayden,” sometimes titled “As Dewe in Aprille” is a Middle English Marian lyric (or perhaps more accurately, a carol) about the virgin Mary, with reference to the Annunciation story in Luke 1:26-38. The Middle English is 15th century, with enough oddities that I hesitate to speculate about the dialect. “I Syng of…
Category: Music
There isn’t a lot of evidence of music in the archaeological record, but there is some. The bards of the ancient Irish and Welsh referred to by the Romans and Greeks mostly performed “praise poetry,” elaborate formalized praise of their patrons’ deeds. There is some fairly solid evidence, some of it archaeological, that the bards accompanied their poetry with something like a lyre or harp. The early Celts also used carefully constructed war trumpets called carnyx; we have some of them still.
Later, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the border ballads, many of them collected by Francis James Child (hence their name as the Child Ballads) were closely associated with Scotland, and to a lesser extent, Ireland. These are part of what is today often described as Traditional Celtic music from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the islands, and yes, England too. (There is also some similar music, using harps, pipes, bag pipes, from other lands settled by Celtic speakers, including Breton and Galacia).
These are posts dealing with music, though admittedly not all of it is ancient, medieval, or even Celtic.
How Clannad made Theme from Harry’s Game
Via The Guardian: How Clannad made Theme from Harry’s Game Dave Simplson interviews the band Clannad. Pól Brennan, singer-songwriter The Brennan and Duggan families were all born in the townland of Dobhar [Dore] in Donegal. The two Duggans were my mother’s younger brothers and contemporaries of ours. We formed the band in 1970 and called…
Adam Lay Ybounden
Adam lay i-bowndyn, bowndyn in a bond, Fowre thowsand wynter thowt he not to long And al was for an appil, an appil that he tok. As clerkes fyndyn wretyn in here book. Ne hadde the appil take ben, the appil taken ben, Ne hadde never our lady a ben hevene quen. Blyssid be the…
Tam Lin: Love, Sacrifice, and Halloween
I can’t really think about Halloween, or Samain, if you prefer, without thinking of the ballad of “Tam Lin,” especially this part: And ance it fell upon a day A cauld day and a snell, When we were frae the hunting come, That frae my horse I fell, The Queen o’ Fairies she caught…
O Magnum Mysterium
The origins of the Medieval Latin responsorial chant known as “O Magnum Mysterium” are not really clear any more. It’s early; before the tenth century. “O Magnum Mysterium” was part of the matins service for Christmas. For much of the Middle Ages, matins took place roughly at midnight. The Latin text describes the nativity scene…
Angelus ad virginem
“Angelus ad virginem” is a Medieval Latin carol celebrating the Annunciation by the angel Gabriel telling the Virgin that she would conceive and bear the Christ child. The Latin lyrics are (here’s a rough translation): 1. Angelus ad virginem Subintrans in conclave. Virginis formidinum Demulcens inquit “Ave.” Ave regina virginum, Coeliteraeque dominum Concipies Et paries…
The Boar’s Head Carol
There was a Medieval Christmastide tradition of ceremonially cooking and presenting the boar’s head as a main course at a feast. Indeed, Queen’s college still celebrates a notable boar and an alum in “The Boar’s Head Carol.” Tradition says, or at least William Henry Husk, Librarian to the Sacred Harmonic Society, says that the boar’s…
Soul Cake and Souling
Soul, soul, a soul cake! I pray thee, good missus, a soul cake! One for Peter, two for Paul, Three for Him what made us all! Soul cake, soul cake, please good missus, a soul cake. An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry, anything good thing to make us all merry. One for…
Halloween
And pleasant is the fairy land, But, an eerie tale to tell, Ay at the end of seven years We pay a tiend to hell; I am sae fair and fu o flesh, I’m feard it be mysel. But the night is Halloween, lady, The morn is Hallowday; Then win me, win me, an ye…
The Cherry-Tree Carol
The Cherry-tree Carol: O then bespoke Mary, so meek and so mild: “Pluck me one cherry, Joseph, for I am with child.” O then bespoke Joseph, with words most unkind: “Let him pluck thee a cherry that brought thee with child.” The Cherry-tree Carol appears to have first been collected in Britain in the seventeenth…