Sumer Is Icumen In
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Sumer Is Icumen In is a traditional English round, and possibly the oldest such example of counterpoint in existence. The title might be translated as "Spring Has Come In". It is sometimes known as the Reading rota because the manuscript comes from Reading Abbey though it may not have been written there. It is the oldest piece of six-part polyphonic music (Albright, 1994). Its composer is anonymous, possibly W. de Wycombe, and it is estimated to date from around 1260. The manuscript is now at the British Library.
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Music
The original manuscript, written in the mid-13th century, is written in a musical notation somewhat confusing to modern eyes, yet still clearly a precursor of modern notation: Image:SumerIsIcumenIn-line.png
To sing as a round, one singer would begin at the beginning, and a second would start at the beginning as the first got to the point marked with the red cross. The length between the start and the cross corresponds to the modern notion of a bar, and the main verse is comprised of six phrases spread over twelve such bars. In addition, there are two lines marked "Pes", two bars each, that are meant to be sung together repeatedly underneath the main verse. These instructions are included (in Latin) in the manuscript itself.
The music is somewhat more readable in modern notation: Image:Sumer is icumen in.png
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English lyrics (profane)
The better-known lyrics for this piece are in Middle English, and comprise a song of spring (reverdie):
- Svmer 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 naver nu,
- Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
- Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!
Modern English translation
- Summer has come in,
- Loudly sing, Cuckoo!
- Seeds grow and meadows bloom
- And the forest springs anew,
- Sing, Cuckoo!
- The ewe bleats after the lamb,
- The Cow lows after the calf.
- The bullock jumps, the billy-goat farts*,
- Merrily sing, Cuckoo!
- Cuckoo, cuckoo, well you sing, cuckoo;
- Nor cease you ever now,
- Sing cuckoo now. Sing, Cuckoo.
- Sing Cuckoo. Sing cuckoo now!
- "Farts" is the more likely translation here, but some have argued for "leaps"; for more see the translation notes in the first reference below.
Latin lyrics (sacred)
This work is also one of the earliest examples of music with both sacred and profane lyrics, though the profane ones are perhaps better known. It is not clear which came first, but the sacred lyrics, in Latin, are a reflection on the sacrifice of the Crucifixion. A vertical bar indicates the end of a musical phrase:
- Perspice Christicola† que dignacio |
- celicus agricola |
- pro uitis vicio |
- filio | non parcens
- exposuit mortis exicio |
- Qui captiuos semiuiuos a supplicio |
- vite donat et secum coronat
- in celi solio |
†written "χρ̅icola" in the manuscript
English translation
- Observe, Christian, such honour!
- The heavenly farmer,
- due to a defect in the vine,
- not sparing the Son,
- exposed him to the destruction of death.
- To the captives half-dead from torment,
- He gives them life and crowns them with himself
- on the throne of heaven.
In film
The song was used with chilling effect at the climax of the film The Wicker Man.
Source
- Albright, Daniel (2004). Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226012670.