Sumer is icumen in – Early Music Muse

Sumer is icumen in / Perspice Christicola: silencing the cuckoo

Ian Pittaway bonacon, bonnacon, farting, ground bass, Harley 978 manuscript, mediaeval, medieval, medieval notation, Perspice Christicola, pes, rota, Sumer is icumen in 7th June 20208th February 2024 4 Comments

Sumer is icumen in is the earliest surviving complete English secular song, sung in this article’s video with all six voices indicated in the manuscript, Harley 978, circa 1250. Sumer and another song, Perspice Christicola, are laid out on the page to the same melody. It seems an unlikely coupling: one about the sights and sounds of summer, with its singing cuckoo, growing seeds, bleating ewe and farting buck; the other a devotional song, with God sending Christ to destruction in order to free the captives of sin and crown them in heaven.

A later scribe returned to the page to add rhythm to the originally non-mensural (not indicating rhythm) notation and, in doing so, also changed the pitches of some notes. The changed notes are strategic, removing the musical cuckoo call, and this scribal interference suggests that the Middle English secular Sumer is icumen in and the Latin devotional Perspice Christicola made an uneasy pair. The version of Sumer recorded for this article restores the originally-written pitches, with the effect of reinstating the cascading cuckoo call, a central musical effect erased in the amended notes usually sung.

This is a revised version of an article originally published in February 2016.

Performing medieval music. Part 2/3: Turning monophony into polyphony

Ian Pittaway Ars musicae, Berkeley manuscript, bourdon, Cantigas de Santa María, contrary motion, devil’s interval, drones, Edi beo thu heuene quene, Edi beo thu hevene quene, fiddle tunings, fifthing, Glarean Heinrich, Glareanus Heinrich, ground bass, Guido of Arezzo, gymel, heterophony, historically informed performance, hurdy gurdy, Jerome of Moravia, Johannes de Grocheio, kithara, mediaeval, medieval, medieval modes, modes, motet, musica falsa, musica ficta, musica recta, musica vera, Nobilis humilis, Notre Dame school, organistrum, organum, parallel harmonies, parallel polyphony, pes, polyphony, rota, Sancte Bonifati martyr, simfonie, simfony, sinfonie, Sumer is icumen in, Summa musice, Tractatus de Musica, tritone, vielle tunings 9th August 201826th September 2023 26 Comments

Harp, vielle and citole in the
*Peterborough* *Psalter*, England, 1300-50.

The most fundamental question of all in playing early music today is: how can the music be played to reflect historical practice? This is the second of three articles looking at historically-informed ways of performing medieval music, aiming to be a practical guide, with plenty of musical examples and illustrations, and a bibliography for those who wish to delve further.

The first article focussed on historical instrument combinations, using the illustrations of two 13^th century manuscripts as representative examples. This second article distinguishes the difference between modern harmony and medieval polyphony, and the main body of the article looks at styles of medieval accompaniment by referencing historical models. For simplicity and clarity, the same passage of music is used as the basis for exploring a variety of accompaniments. Arrangements of the first section of Cantiga de Santa Maria 10 illustrate heterophony, parallel movement, fifthing, the gymel, the importance of medieval modes, drones and drone-like accompaniments, the type of organum derided by a cleric as “minstrelish little notes”, the rota and ground bass, and the motet.

For each method, there is a sound clip of a short musical performance, composed in historically informed style by Ian Pittaway, performed by Kathryn Wheeler on recorder and vielle, and by Ian Pittaway on harp, gittern and oud. There are links to 15 illustrative videos, putting the techniques in this article into practice. Finally, the question of what to do if there isn’t a tune is addressed.

The key message of this article is: once informed, be creative.

One song to the tune of another: early music common practice, 800 years before Humph

Ian Pittaway Bring us in good ale, broadside ballads, Bryng us in good ale, carolling, carols, Fortune my foe, goliards, Greensleeves, I’m sorry I haven’t a clue, Pepys Samuel, Perspice Christicola, salutacyon, Salutation, Sumer is icumen in 22nd November 20167th August 2022 2 Comments

clue4 — A classic *Clue* line-up, left to right:
Tim Brooke-Taylor, Humphrey Lyttelton,
Barry Cryer, Willie Rushton, Graeme Garden.

Listeners to BBC Radio 4’s long-running antidote to panel games, I’m sorry I haven’t a clue, will be familiar with the round, one song to the tune of another. The joke is predicated on us being used to thinking ‘These are the words and this is the tune and they belong together’. The uniting of these separated elements is made funnier by an extreme contrast of styles: the words of Girlfriend In A Coma to the tune of Tiptoe Through The Tulips; the words of A Whiter Shade of Pale to the tune of The Muppet Show; the words of Ugly Duckling to the tune of Harry Nilsson’s Without You.

The stock-in-trade of the show is satire, the programme itself being a satire of panel games. Clue has been going since 1972, chaired for nearly all of that time by late jazz trumpeter, Humphrey Lyttelton, known to cast and listeners as Humph. What Humph and the rest of the panel may not have known is that the principle of one song to the tune of another, with sometimes wildly contrasting words fitted to the same tune, was widely used in early music, the earliest evidence for which stretches back 800 years before even Humph was on air. This article, with illustrative music videos, traces the history of the practice from 16^th and 17^th century broadside ballads back to medieval carols, to songs with both secular and religious sets of words, and to the iconoclastic musical comedy of the goliards.

A brief history of farting in early music and literature

Ian Pittaway Aubrey John, bonacon, bonnacon, Bosch Hieronymous, Canterbury Tales, catch clubs, Chaucer Geoffrey, d'Urfey Thomas, de Vere Edward, Elizabeth I, Ellis William, farting, Garden of Earthly Delights, Luther Martin, marginalia, My Lady and her Mayd, Pepys Samuel, Playford Henry, Playford John, Puritans, Shakespeare William, Sumer is icumen in, Swift Jonathan, Two Gentlemen of Verona 27th July 20169th February 2024 5 Comments

This may seem like surprising material. Indeed, this article started out as a bit of silliness based on a few farty fragments, but soon became a serious study when I uncovered the surprising historical meanings behind flatulence in the medieval, renaissance and baroque periods. A 17^th century music society sang gleefully about it (for which there is a music video in this article); Thomas D’Urfey published several songs about it; and a buck does it in the earliest surviving piece of English secular polyphony. Plus there’s Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, Edward de Vere’s bottom burp in front of Queen Elizabeth, and farting musical marginalia. So rest your cheeks, wind down, and let rip with a brief history of farting.

Medieval music: a quick guide to the middle ages

Ian Pittaway Astripotens famulos (Kind ruler of the stars), Cantigas de Santa María, citole, ductia, early music, estampie, gittern, Lambeth Palace Library MS 457, Mater dei (Mother of God), mediaeval, medieval, Mirie it is while sumer ilast, Miro genere (By a wondrous birth), polyphony, Sexte estampie Real, Sumer is icumen in 9th July 201513th April 2024 4 Comments

The middle ages covers a period of a thousand years – and yet much of its music-making is a mystery to us. We’re not completely in the dark, though, so the aim of this article is to give a broad beginner’s guide to the principles of secular medieval music. When were the middle ages? How do we know what the music sounded like? What were the earliest surviving songs? What was its dance music like? Why does medieval music sound so different to today’s? How did medieval musicians harmonise?

This article features 4 illustrative videos of medieval music and several links to further articles (click on blue text).

Greensleeves: Mythology, History and Music. Part 2 of 3: History

Ian Pittaway baroque, broadside ballads, early music, Greensleeves, lute, lute manuscripts and books, Merry Wives of Windsor, morris dance, passamezzo antico, Playford John, renaissance, romanesca, Shakespeare William, Sumer is icumen in 6th July 201512th March 2023 7 Comments

The remarkable longevity of a 16^th century song and tune

Greensleeves is well over four centuries old and is, even now, still going strong. This is a song first published in 1580, its tune used for a wide variety of other 16^th and 17^th century broadside ballads; used as the basis for virtuoso lute playing; that William Shakespeare used for a sophisticated joke; a tune that John Playford published for dancing to; that morris dancers still jig and kick bottoms to; that has become a Christmas favourite; and that pop singers continue to sing. This is the second of three articles, looking at the song’s mythology, its true history, and video examples of its musical transformations.

One of the first sources for the tune, in lute tablature as greene sleues in MS. 408/2, an anonymous amateur anthology dated c. 1592–1603. — One of the first sources for the tune, in lute tablature as *greene sleues* in MS. 408/2, an anonymous amateur anthology dated c. 1592–1603. (As with all images, click for higher resolution.)