Westron wynde – Early Music Muse

Foweles in þe frith (birds in the wood): mystery and beauty in a 13th century song

Ian Pittaway Foweles in the frith, Foweles in þe frith, gymel, Harley 913, historically informed performance, Lollai lollai litil child, Man mai longe lives weene, mediaeval, medieval, medieval modes, modes, Notre Dame school, polyphony, rhythmic modes, troubadours, Western wind, Westron wynde 12th March 201922nd April 2024 6 Comments

Bibliothèque nationale de France,
Latin 1156 B, folio 4r, 15^th century.
(As with all pictures, click to see larger.)

The 13^th century song, Foweles in þe frith, is among the earliest that survive in the English language. The manuscript has two complete polyphonic voices but only one verse, and so the meaning of its nature imagery and lament for the “beste of bon and blod” has been much debated.

This article places Foweles in þe frith in the context of other surviving secular songs in English; then decodes and deciphers its words and debates its various interpretations: is it a lover’s lament; sorrow for a lost animal; or a song of religious contemplation?

The melody was written by the scribe in notation usually presumed to be non-mensural (non-rhythmic). I argue that the music shows rhythm, clearly written on the page according to medieval musical principles, performed in the video which begins the article.

Westron wynde: a beautiful fragment of longing

Ian Pittaway bray harp, Canterbury Tales, Chaucer Geoffrey, Cymbeline (play), Gothic harp, harp, Henry VIII, Lloyd A. L., medieval, renaissance, Royal Appendix 58, Shakespeare William, Western wind, Westron wynde 22nd June 201710th November 2023 0 Comment

The 16^th century song, Westron wynde, is an expression of longing to be with one’s love. It is just one verse and melody in a manuscript from the court of King Henry VIII. Much ink has been fancifully spilled over the meaning of its four lines. This article traces the history of its treatment through renaissance masses, folk music and 20^th century pop music; attempts to elucidate its meaning without fancy; and presents an arrangement to renaissance musical principles on bray harp.