I syng of a mayden
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Anunciaci%C3%B3n_%28Mariotto%29.jpg/220px-Anunciaci%C3%B3n_%28Mariotto%29.jpg)
"I syng of a mayden" (sometimes titled "As Dewe in Aprille") is a
Written by an anonymous hand, the text is now only to be found in British Library Sloane MS 2593, a collection of medieval lyrics now held in the British Library, although contemporary sources suggest it was well known in its day. Originally intended to be sung, no evidence of the work's musical setting survives, and since its rediscovery and popularisation it has formed the basis for a number of modern choral and vocal works.
Analysis
The work has been described by Laura Saetveit Miles, a University of Bergen Professor of medieval literature, as "one of the most admired fifteenth-century Middle English lyrics [which] offers, within a deceptively simple form, an extremely delicate and haunting presentation of Mary (the 'mayden / þat is makeles') and her conception of Christ ('here sone')".
- A brain and a subtle ear has gone into the making of this poem...celebrating the mystery of Christ's conception. Dew falling on grass, flower and spray (traditional imagery, deriving from OT texts such as Psalm 72:6) suggests ease, grace and delicacy generally (not progressive stages of insemination). The emphasis on Mary's freedom of choice, at the moment of the annunciation, is theologically strictly proper.[3]
According to Miles, despite a celebratory opening, "Mary's physical stillness as proof of her
The poem is written from a
Middle English original[5] | English modernisation[6] |
---|---|
I syng of a mayden |
I sing of a maiden |
He came also stylle |
He came as still |
He cam also stylle |
He came as still |
He cam also stylle |
He came as still |
Moder & mayden |
Mother and maiden |
Origin
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/I_syng_of_a_mayden.jpg)
The manuscript in which the poem is found, (Sloane MS 2593, ff.10v-11) is held by the
In 1836, Thomas Wright suggested that, although his fellow antiquarian Joseph Ritson had dated the manuscript from the reign of Henry V of England (1387–1422), he personally felt that although "its greatest antiquity must be included within the fifteenth century", some lyrics contained within may be of an earlier origin.[11] Wright speculated, on the basis of the dialect of Middle English, that the lyrics probably originated in Warwickshire, and suggested that a number of the songs were intended for use in mystery plays.[11] More recent analysis of the manuscript places the dialect as being of East Anglian original and more specifically Norfolk; two further carol MSS from the county contain duplicates from Sloane MS 2593.[12] However, "I syng of a mayden" is a unique instance of this lyric.
Although the Sloane Manuscript is the only surviving textual source, the bibliographer and Shakespearean scholar
Mayde, Wyff and Moder whas neure but ye
Wel may swych a ladye Goddys modyr be.[8]
Musical setting
As most explicitly noted by the first quatrain, the poem was originally intended to be sung. Indeed, as noted by Stephen Medcalf, Emeritus Reader in English at the University of Sussex, the text itself seems to imply melody and verse.[14] However, due to the oral tradition of the time, the original melody of the song was not notated and over the course of time was forgotten.
Since the rediscovery of the text, many composers have set the text to music, amongst them diverse choral or vocal interpretations by
See also
References
- ^ a b c Laura Saetveit Miles, The Annunciation as Model of Meditation: Stillness, Speech and Transformation in Middle English Drama and Lyric Archived 28 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine in Marginalia, Vol. 2 – 2004–2005 Cambridge Yearbook (Cambridge, 2005).
- ^ a b Michael Steffes, "As dewe in Aprylle": I syng of a mayden and the liturgy', Medium Aevum, Spring 2002.
- ISBN 978-0-631-19839-0, 387.
- ^ For a recent translation, see Richard Utz, "I syng of a Mayden," in: Mother Mary Comes to Me. A Popculture Poetry Anthology, ed. Karen Head and Collin Kelley (Lake Dallas, Texas: Madville, 2020).
- ^ Laura Saetveit Miles, The Annunciation as Model of Meditation: Stillness, Speech and Transformation in Middle English Drama and Lyric Archived 27 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine in Marginalia, Vol. 2 – 2004–2005 Cambridge Yearbook (Cambridge, 2005). Appendix.
- ^ David Breeden, I Sing of a Maiden, Adaptations from Middle English Poetry.
- ^ Medieval lyrics[permanent dead link] at the British Library Online, URL accessed 31 December 2009
- ^ a b Alan J. Fletcher, "I sing of a maiden": A Fifteenth Century Sermon Reminiscence" in Notes and Queries issue 223, NS 25 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978). 107–108.
- ISBN 978-0-87220-879-7, 5.
- ^ Thomas Wright, Songs and carols from a manuscript in the British Museum of the fifteenth century, (London: T. Richards, 1856), 46-47, 79-80, 94-95.
- ^ a b Thomas Wright, Songs and carols printed from a manuscript in the Sloane collection in the British Museum (London: W. Pickering, 1836), vi
- ^ Palti, K. R. (2008) ‘Synge we now alle and sum’: three Fifteenth-Century collections of communal song: a study of British Library, Sloane MS 2593; Bodleian Library, MS Eng. poet. e.1; and St John’s College, Cambridge, MS S.54. Doctoral thesis, University College London, 104
- ^ W. W. Greg, "I Sing of a Maiden That Is Makeless" in Modern Philology, October 1909, 1. University of Chicago Press.
- ISBN 978-0-416-86000-9, 14.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56023-872-0, 43
- ^ David Willcocks, Kings College Choir, Cambridge, Argo RG 240 (Mono) ZRG 5240 (stereo)
- ^ Roger Quilter, "An old carol", for voice and piano, Op. 25, No. 3
- ^ John Gerrish website, eohistory.info, 14 August 2010, retrieved 24 August 2010
- ^ Gustav Holst, "I sing of a maiden", Four Songs for Voice and Violin, Op. 35, No. 3 (1916–17)
- ISBN 978-1-84383-209-6, 217.
- ^ "As Dew in Aprylle" Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Choral Music of Peter Warlock, vol. 4 (Peter Warlock Society, Thames Publishing)
- ^ Richard R. Terry, "I Sing of a Mayden" in Twelve Christmas Carols. (London: J. Curwen & Sons, 1912) 18.
- ^ A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, Christmas Eve, 2008 (PDF), Provost and Fellows of King's College, Cambridge, 24 December 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2010, retrieved 25 December 2008
- ^ Benjamin Britten, A Ceremony of Carols Op. 28 (1942)