Catalogue no. 4059
I sing of a maiden
Music: Frances Cockburn, Words: medieval anon
Voicing: SSAA
Performance time approx: 2m 00s
Range S1: g' – f'' / S2: f' – f'' / A1: d' – e'' / A2: d' – c''
Price code: B
Complexity:
In this strophic and lilting setting of one of the most beautiful medieval English hymns to Mary, the four closely spaced vocal lines create fluctuations of dissonance and consonance. Specially effective in an ethereal acoustic.
YouTube has this performance by the Glasgow Madrigirls.
I sing of a maiden that is makeless;[matchless]
King of all kinges to her son she ches.[chose]
He came all so still where his mother was,
As dew in April that falleth on the grass.
He came all so still to his mother's bower,
As dew in April that falleth on the flower.
He came all so still where his mother lay,
As dew in April that falleth on the spray.[spreading branch]
Mother and maiden was never none but she;
Well may such a lady Godës mother be.[God's mother]
Medieval English, adapted