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= Coventry Carol =
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Introduction
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The "Coventry Carol" is an English Christmas carol dating from the
16th century. The carol was traditionally performed in Coventry in
England as part of a mystery play called 'The Pageant of the Shearmen
and Tailors'. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in
the Gospel of Matthew: the carol itself refers to the Massacre of the
Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants under the age of
two in Bethlehem to be killed, and takes the form of a lullaby sung by
mothers of the doomed children.
The music contains a well-known example of a Picardy third. The author
is unknown; the oldest known text was written down by Robert Croo in
1534, and the oldest known setting of the melody dates from 1591.
There are alternative, modern settings of the carol by Kenneth
Leighton, Philip Stopford and Michael McGlynn.
History and text
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The carol is the second of three songs included in the Pageant of the
Shearmen and Tailors, a nativity play that was one of the Coventry
Mystery Plays, originally performed by the city's guilds.
The exact date of the text is unknown, though there are references to
the Coventry guild pageants from 1392 onwards. The single surviving
text of the carol and the pageant containing it was edited by one
Robert Croo, who dated his manuscript 14 March 1534. Croo, or Crowe,
acted for some years as the 'manager' of the city pageants. Over a
twenty-year period, payments are recorded to him for playing the part
of God in the Drapers' Pageant, for making a hat for a "pharysye", and
for mending and making other costumes and props, as well as for
supplying new dialogue and for copying out the Shearmen and Tailors'
Pageant in a version which Croo described as "newly correcte". Croo
seems to have worked by adapting and editing older material, while
adding his own rather ponderous and undistinguished verse.
Religious changes caused the plays' suppression during the later 16th
century, but Croo's prompt book, including the songs, survived and a
transcription was eventually published by the Coventry antiquarian
Thomas Sharp in 1817 as part of his detailed study of the city's
mystery plays. Sharp published a second edition in 1825 which included
the songs' music. Both printings were intended to be a facsimile of
Croo's manuscript, copying both the orthography and layout; this
proved fortunate as Croo's original manuscript, which had passed into
the collection of the Birmingham Free Library, was destroyed in a fire
there in 1879. Sharp's transcriptions are therefore the only source;
Sharp had a reputation as a careful scholar, and his copying of the
text of the women's carol appears to be accurate.
Within the pageant, the carol is sung by three women of Bethlehem, who
enter on stage with their children immediately after Joseph is warned
by an angel to take his family to Egypt:
!width="350"|Original spelling !width="350"|Modernised spelling
By by, lully, lullay thow littell tyne child, By by, lully, lullay!
Bye bye, lully, lullay. Thou little tiny child, Bye bye, lully,
lullay.
For to preserve this day This pore yongling for whom we do singe By
by, lully, lullay? For to preserve this day This poor youngling for
whom we sing, "Bye bye, lully, lullay"?
Chargid he hath this day His men of might in his owne sight All yonge
children to slay,— Chargèd he hath this day His men of might in his
own sight All young children to slay.
And ever morne and may For thi parting nether say nor singe, By by,
lully, lullay. And ever mourn and may For thy parting neither say nor
sing, "Bye bye, lully, lullay."
Sharp's publication of the text stimulated some renewed interest in
the pageant and songs, particularly in Coventry itself. Although the
Coventry mystery play cycle was traditionally performed in summer, the
lullaby has been in modern times regarded as a Christmas carol. It was
brought to a wider audience after being featured in the BBC's Empire
Broadcast at Christmas 1940, shortly after the Bombing of Coventry in
World War II, when the broadcast concluded with the singing of the
carol in the bombed-out ruins of the Cathedral.
Music
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The carol's music was added to Croo's manuscript at a later date by
Thomas Mawdyke, his additions being dated 13 May 1591. Mawdyke wrote
out the music in three-part harmony, though whether he was responsible
for its composition is debatable, and the music's style could be
indicative of an earlier date. The three (alto, tenor and baritone)
vocal parts confirm that, as was usual with mystery plays, the parts
of the "mothers" singing the carol were invariably played by men. The
original three-part version contains a "startling" false relation (F
in treble, F in tenor) at "by, by".
Mawdyke, who may be identifiable with a tailor of that name living in
the St Michael's parish of Coventry in the late 16th century, is
thought to have made his additions as part of an unsuccessful attempt
to revive the play cycle in the summer of 1591, though in the end the
city authorities chose not to support the revival. The surviving
pageants were revived in the Cathedral from 1951 onwards.
A four-part setting of the tune by Walford Davies is shown below:
\new ChoirStaff <<
\new Staff {
\time 3/4
\key g \minor
\relative c' {
|
2 4 |
2 4 | 2. |
4 |
2 2. ~ 2 4 |
2 4 |
2 4 |
2
<< { \voiceOne g4 }
\new Voice { \voiceTwo bes,8 c } >>
\oneVoice 2. |
4 |
2 | 2. \bar "|."
}
}
\new Staff {
\time 3/4
\key g \minor
\clef bass
4 |
2 4 |
2 4 |
2. | 4 |
2 | 2. ~ 2 4 |
2 4 | 2 4 |
( ) | 2. |
4 |
<< { \voiceOne g( fis) }
\new Voice { \voiceTwo d2 } >>
\oneVoice 2. \bar "|."
}
>>
"Appalachian" variant
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A variant of the carol was supposedly collected by folklorist John
Jacob Niles in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in June 1934 (from an "old lady
with a gray hat", who according to Niles's notes insisted on remaining
anonymous). Niles surmised that the carol had been transplanted from
England via the shape note singing tradition, although this version of
the carol has not been found elsewhere and there is reason to believe
that Niles, a prolific composer, actually wrote it himself. Joel Cohen
uncovered an early shape note choral song from the 18th century which
also includes some of the lyrics to the Coventry Carol and has a tune
at least marginally resembling Niles' variant. For this reason, Cohen
argued that the Appalachian variant was likely to be authentic and
that Crump et al. have been too quick to assume chicanery on Niles'
part due to his proclivity for editing some of his collected material.
Although the tune is quite different to that of the "Coventry Carol",
the text is largely similar except for the addition of an extra verse
(described by Poston as "regrettable"):
A number of subsequent recorded versions have incorporated the fifth
verse.
See also
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* List of Christmas carols
External links
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* [http://cantorion.org/musicsearch/title/Coventry%20Carol Sheet
music] for voice and SATB from Cantorion.org
*
License
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_Carol