Saturday, May 30, 2020

30th May 2020 - Summer Is Icumen In


A song from the 13th century written in the Wessex dialect of Middle English, Summer Is Icumen In is a round (or rota) also known as the Summer Canon or the Cuckoo Song. It is the earliest known musical composition written in 6-part polyphony and the manuscript in which it was preserved was copied between 1261 and 1264.

It is also known as the Reading Rota as the manuscript was found at Reading Abbey, though it probably was not drafted there. As is usual with these cultural artefacts (for example the Lindisfarne Gospels) it is now to be found at the British Library, which I believe is in London.

Anyroadup, this is a great song to bring our May series almost to a conclusion. Let's welcome in the summer with Jackie Lyness:

https://youtu.be/hIj4ovWM3Kg

Lyrics in Middle English:

Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu
Groweþ sed
and bloweþ med
and springþ þe wde nu
Sing cuccu

Awe bleteþ after lomb
lhouþ after calue cu
Bulluc sterteþ
bucke uerteþ
murie sing cuccu

Cuccu cuccu
Wel singes þu cuccu
ne swik þu nauer nu

Sing cuccu nu • Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu • Sing cuccu nu


Modern translation:

Summer has arrived,
Loudly sing, cuckoo!
The seed is growing
And the meadow is blooming,
And the wood is coming into leaf now,
Sing, cuckoo!

The ewe is bleating after her lamb,
The cow is lowing after her calf;
The bullock is prancing,
The billy-goat farting [or, possibly "The stag cavorting"],
Sing merrily, cuckoo!

Cuckoo, cuckoo,
You sing well, cuckoo,
Never stop now.

Sing, cuckoo, now; sing, cuckoo;
Sing, cuckoo; sing, cuckoo, now!


Information on the song sourced from Wikipedia