The Coventry Carol

[Ekklesian]

When was the 'Coventry Carol' written?​

The 'Coventry Caro'l dates back to around the 15th century or even earlier, and, as the name suggests, was traditionally performed in Coventry, as part of the nativity play, The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The first known publication of the carol dates to 1534 when it was edited by Robert Croo. *​

"The Coventry Carol" is very, very old, dating back in all likelihood to the middle of the fourteenth century, a point immediately evident to anyone with even a smattering of familiarity with late medieval music, since "Coventry's" musical setting in a minor key resolving into a final major chord is typical of much of the other music that survives from that long-vanished era. **​

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*ht tps://www.classical-music.com/articles/coventry-carol-lyrics
**ht tps://compvid101.blogspot.com/2014/12/for-season-7-coventry-carollully-lullay.html

 

[Ekklesian]

What's the story behind the 'Coventry Carol'?​

In the play the carol is sung by three women from Bethlehem, just after an angel advises Joseph to flee to Egypt with his family.*​

[F]or [the peasantry and yeomanry of 14th century England (and not coincidentally the scores of medieval and Renaissance painters who used the motif)], the Massacre was a real event, a fitting reminder of the degenerate nature of sinful humankind, and one deserving of memorialization in this lovely but heart-rendingly tragic carol. I think we can catch a sense of the original sound of the song in this acoustic instrumental solo by Trond Bengtson, performed most appropriately on a medieval-styled lute:**​

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*ht tps://www.classical-music.com/articles/coventry-carol-lyrics
**ht tps://compvid101.blogspot.com/2014/12/for-season-7-coventry-carollully-lullay.html

 

[Ekklesian]

What are the lyrics to the 'Coventry Carol'​

Lully, lullay, ​

Thou little tiny child, ​

Bye bye, lully, lullay. ​

​

O sisters too, how may we do ​

For to preserve this day ​

This poor youngling for whom we do sing, ​

"Bye bye, lully, lullay"?​

​

Herod the king, in his raging, ​

Chargèd he hath this day ​

His men of might in his own sight ​

All young children to slay.​

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That woe is me, poor child, for thee ​

And ever mourn and may ​

For thy parting neither say nor sing, ​

"Bye bye, lully, lullay."*​

The Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, an offshoot of Shaw's famous Chorale, here in 1993 deliver the lyric with [slow and measured] pacing... Shaw breaks one of his own precedents here. His arrangements were often built around the male baritone section singing the lead on the melody; here, in keeping with the plaint of the grieving mothers, the lead belongs to the sopranos.**​

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*ht tps://www.classical-music.com/articles/coventry-carol-lyrics
**ht tps://compvid101.blogspot.com/2014/12/for-season-7-coventry-carollully-lullay.html

 

[Ekklesian]

 

[Ekklesian]

 

[Ekklesian]

ANGEL. Mary and Joseph, to you I say,
Sweet word from the Father I bring you full right:
Out of Bethlehem into Egypt forth go ye the way
And with you take the King, full of might,
For dread of Herod's plan!

JOSEPH. Arise up, Mary, hastily and soon;
Our Lord's will needs must be done,
Like as the angel us bade.​

 

[Ekklesian]

MARY. Meekly, Joseph, my espoused,
Toward that country let us repair
At Egypt to some kind of house,
God grant his grace safe to come there!

Here the women come in with their children, singing [to] them; and Mary and Joseph goeth away clean.

I. WOMAN. I lull my child wondrously sweet,
And in my arms I do it keep,
Because that it should not cry.

II. WOMAN. That babe that is born in Bethlehem, so meek,
He save my child and me from villainy!

III. WOMAN. Be still, be still, my little child! That Lord of lords save both thee and me!
For Herod hath sworn with words wild
That all young children slain shall be.

I. SOLDIER. Say ye, 'widdowed' wives, whither are ye away?
What bare you in your arms needs must we see.
If they be manchildren, die they must this day,
For at Herod's will all things must be.

II. SOLDIER. And I will take them in my hands
Them for to slay--naught will I spare;
We must fullfil Herod's commandment,
Else be we as traitors and cast all in care.

I. WOMAN. Sir knights, of your courtesy,
This day shame not your chivalry,
But on my child have pity
For my sake in this place;
For a simple slaughter it were too slow
Or to work such a child woe,
That can neither speak nor go,
Nor ever harm did.​

 

[Ekklesian]

II. WOMAN. He that slays my child in sight,
If that my strokes on him may light,
Be he squire or knight,
I hold him but lost.
See, thou false deceiver,
A stroke shalt thou bare [of] me here and spare for no cost.

III. WOMAN. Sit he never so high in saddle,
But I shall make his brains addle,
And here with my pot ladle
With him I will fight.
I shall lay on him, as though I mad were,
With this same womanly gear,
There shall no man stir,
Wether that he be king or knight.

Here they kill the children.​

Two Coventry Corpus Christi plays: 1. The shearmen and taylor's pageant, re-edited fron the edition of Thomas Sharp, 1825; and 2. The weaver's pageant, re-edited from the manuscript of Robert Croo, 1534; with a plan of Coventry, and appendixes contai

Book digitized by Google and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.

archive.org