Annotations - Part 1

[Amy Wilson]

Fond greetings to all!

Duke Sir Cariadoc wrote:

<The words of a song and the melody to which it is now sung are not
<necessarily of the same date. Do you have evidence that the tunes are
<period, or only that the words are?

As promised, I went back to the collection and studied the historical notes.  

The notes are very interesting, so I'm planning to reprint portions of them
here, though  I'll need to break these annotations into several posts to do
that.  I hope the value of the notes will outweigh the inconvenience of
spreading them out.  I've indicated where the lyrics and the tunes seem to
date from different times.

Cheers,
Catelin the Patient


"Sumer is icumen in" -- circa 1250)  

'This song is among the Harleian manuscripts in the British Museum.  It was
originally intended to be sung as a six-part men's round, with four equal
voices in canon and two basses on a drone.  It is one of the earliest secular
songs which can now be deciphered.'  My collection actually includes a print
of the manuscript, which appears to be written in a Chaucerian-type English
(to my ignorant eyes), which corresponds to the modern English lyrics that are
included in the collection.

"Ah! The syghes that come fro' my heart" - circa 1457-1509 (time of Henry VII)

'At least as old as the time of Henry VII.  The little cadence or flourish (in
the melody) is characteristic of the period, and is found also in the next
song ("Pastime with good company"), while the pretty attempt at musical
expression on the words "from my love depart" is the ealiest known example of
what was to be a leading characteristic of English song.'


"Pastime with good company" - tune and lyrics by Henry VIII (1491-1547)

'The words and music of this song are preserved in a manuscript of the time of
Henry VIII in the British Museum, in which it is called "The King's Ballad." 
Henry, who was a younger son, and succeeded to the position of Heir Apparent
only on the death of his elder brother Arthur, was originally designed for the
church.  He was consequently instructed in music, which was then a requirement
of an ecclesiastic, and he is known to have written two masses, a motet, an
anthem, some songs and various other compositions, vocal and instrumental. 
There is no doubt of the authenticity of "Pastime with good company," and it
gained great popularity, being found or referred to in a number of early
publications.'

More to come.....  :)