Sumer is icumen in
"Sumer is icumen in" (Middle English for "Summer is coming in") is a medieval English rota, or vocal round, composed around 1260 and recognized as the earliest known complete polyphonic secular song in the English language.[1] It is structured as a six-voice canon—four principal voices in canon and two supporting "pes" parts repeating an ostinato—and celebrates the arrival of summer with references to natural sounds like the cuckoo's call and the bleating of animals.[2] The piece exists in two versions: a primary secular text in Middle English and a later-added Latin contrafactum titled "Perspice Christicola," which adapts the melody for devotional use.[3] The song survives uniquely in British Library manuscript Harley 978, a miscellany compiled between 1261 and 1265 at Reading Abbey in Berkshire, England, by a musically literate monk or small group of enthusiasts.[1] This manuscript, written primarily in Latin and French with some English, includes poetry, medical treatises, and fourteen musical pieces, making it a rare example of 13th-century English monastic musical culture.[3] The notation for "Sumer is icumen in" appears on folio 11v in a distinct, frequently consulted section, suggesting its practical use for teaching or performance within the abbey.[3] While the composer remains anonymous, early 20th-century attributions to figures like the monk John of Fornsete (died c. 1226) or the cleric W. de Wycombe have been largely dismissed by modern scholars due to lack of direct evidence.[4] The English lyrics, in the Wessex dialect of Middle English, evoke the joys of spring with vivid imagery: "Sumer is icumen in, / Lhude sing cuccu! / Groweþ sed and bloweþ med / And springþ þe wde nu," translating roughly to summer's arrival heralded by the cuckoo's song, growing seeds, blooming meadows, and emerging woods.[5] A second verse mentions farm animals, including the debated line "Bucke and cow and do ki" (buck and cow and doe), with "uerþeþ" possibly meaning "fart" or "belch," representing one of the earliest recorded uses of such vernacular humor in English music.[5] Musically, the round unfolds over 36 breves (a breve being a long note value), with voices entering staggered to create overlapping polyphony, accompanied by the repetitive "pes" urging "Sing cuccu" seven times.[2] As a pioneering work in English polyphony, "Sumer is icumen in" exemplifies the 13th-century shift toward more complex vocal forms amid the era's growing interest in secular themes, though it coexists with sacred music in its manuscript context.[1] It has endured in cultural memory, influencing modern recordings, film soundtracks, and compositions like Benjamin Britten's Spring Symphony (1949), and remains a touchstone for studies in medieval musicology.[5] The piece's blend of rustic celebration and sophisticated structure highlights the interplay between oral folk traditions and written monastic art in medieval England.[3]History and Manuscript
Composition and Attribution
"Sumer is icumen in" is a mid-13th-century composition in the Wessex dialect of Middle English, likely originating around 1260 at Reading Abbey in Berkshire, England.[6] The piece represents an early example of polyphonic music blending sacred and secular elements, composed during a period of vibrant monastic cultural activity in England.[7] The composer remains anonymous. Early attributions to figures such as the monk John of Fornsete (died c. 1226) or W. de Wycombe, based on contextual references in the manuscript, have been largely dismissed by modern scholars due to lack of direct evidence and chronological inconsistencies.[4][7] Reading Abbey played a central role in the piece's creation, facilitated by its active scriptorium established as early as 1121, which supported the production of illuminated manuscripts and musical works.[8] The abbey's monastic community, known for scholarly and artistic endeavors, contributed to the development of English polyphony during this era.[7] Dating of the composition relies on evidence from the manuscript's folios, including paleographic analysis of the Gothic script and contents like the integrated calendar, which aligns with the period 1240–1265, corroborated by historical records of the abbey's activities.[9]Discovery and Preservation
The manuscript containing "Sumer is icumen in," known as British Library Harley MS 978, originated as a miscellany from Reading Abbey and dates to between 1261 and 1264, as determined by its internal calendar. This parchment codex, measuring approximately 190 by 130 millimeters and comprising 162 folios plus flyleaves, features mensural notation for the musical composition on folio 11v, marking it as an early example of such scored polyphony in a monastic collection.[10] The manuscript's diverse contents, including medical texts, poetry, and both English and Latin versions of the rota on the same page—a unique juxtaposition of secular and sacred elements—highlight its role as a multifunctional abbey resource.[3] Harley MS 978 entered scholarly awareness in the 19th century through antiquarian interest in medieval manuscripts, with the musical notation of "Sumer is icumen in" first transcribed and published by Thomas Wright in Reliquiae Antiquae (1841–1843), drawing attention to its significance as an early English composition. The codex itself had been acquired earlier by Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, in the early 18th century from post-Dissolution monastic holdings, and was transferred to the British Museum (predecessor to the British Library) upon its founding in 1753.[11] A stone relief replica of the manuscript's musical page was installed in 1913 on the wall of Reading Abbey's ruined chapter house, commemorating the abbey's cultural legacy and providing public access to the artifact's visual essence.[3][12] Preservation efforts for Harley MS 978 have focused on protecting its fragile parchment from deterioration due to age, handling, and environmental factors, with the British Library undertaking conservation treatments and restricting physical access. In recent decades, full digitization of the manuscript has been completed as part of the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts program, enabling global study without further wear on the original and supporting ongoing scholarly analysis.[13] These measures address challenges inherent to 13th-century codices, such as ink fading and binding stress, ensuring the survival of unique features like the bilingual texts.[10] The manuscript underscores its local monastic origins at Reading Abbey.[14]Musical Structure
Polyphonic Form
"Sumer is icumen in" demonstrates six-part polyphony through four upper voices performing a canon known as the rota, which enter at staggered intervals to generate overlapping melodic layers, accompanied by a two-part pes functioning as a repeating ground bass sung continuously underneath.[15] The rota voices initiate sequentially, typically after an offset of two measures, fostering a dense, interwoven texture that exemplifies early English canonic writing.[16] This arrangement operates as a round or perpetual canon, with the rota melody designed for indefinite repetition while maintaining harmonic coherence over the ostinato pes, which cycles through a fixed 14-measure phrase in parallel thirds or sixths.[17] The composition is set in the hypodorian mode, with a final on A and a range extending downward, contributing to its modal character.[18] Rhythmic precision is achieved via early mensural notation, one of the earliest surviving examples, which delineates patterns such as trochaic and iambic feet to synchronize the rota entrances and pes repetitions.[19] This notational approach allows for measured durations, distinguishing it from contemporaneous non-mensural practices and enabling the canon's structural integrity. The form anticipates isorhythmic techniques in later English polyphony, as the pes employs a repeating talea (rhythmic pattern) and color (pitch sequence), offering a stable cyclic foundation that supports the imitative upper voices without resolution. Such integration of canon and ostinato marks a significant advancement in medieval compositional complexity.[16]Notation and Performance Practice
The notation of Sumer is icumen in employs early English mensural notation, characteristic of mid-13th-century polyphony, featuring rhomboid breves to denote rhythmic values and square note heads for pitches, allowing for precise indication of duration and melody within the canon structure.[7] This system, predating the more standardized Franco of Cologne notation, relies on the relative lengths of longs and breves to convey rhythm, with the rota's repeating phrases designed for staggered entries marked by a red cross symbol.[7] To distinguish the parts visually, the manuscript uses colored inks: the English lyrics are written in black ink above the notation, while the Latin lyrics are in red ink below it, distinguishing the two contrafacta sharing the same melodic line; the two-voice pes is rendered in black ink. These colors not only aid in part identification but also highlight the ostinato nature of the pes, which repeats continuously beneath the canon.[10][15] Performance of the piece requires six singers: four for the rotating voices of the rota, entering successively to create the polyphonic texture, and two for the pes, sustaining the ostinato bass throughout to provide harmonic foundation and rhythmic drive.[7] Synchronization poses significant challenges, particularly for medieval performers unfamiliar with complex polyphony, as the canon demands precise timing for entries and overlaps, with the pes's repetition serving as an anchor but requiring steady pulse to avoid misalignment among the voices.[6] Historically, it was likely performed a cappella in monastic settings such as Reading Abbey, where the manuscript originated, emphasizing vocal purity without instruments to suit the sacred or semi-liturgical context of the community.[6] In modern practice, adaptations often incorporate instruments like recorders or lutes to enhance texture, diverging from the original vocal-only intent, though scholarly efforts prioritize unaccompanied renditions to reflect 13th-century conventions.[6] Reconstructions of tempo and dynamics draw from contemporary treatises, such as the anonymous English writings on mensural music (e.g., the St Emmeram treatise), suggesting a moderate pace around 60-80 beats per minim to accommodate the canon's overlaps and ensure audibility, with subtle dynamic variations implied by text declamation rather than explicit markings.[7]Lyrics and Themes
English Version
The English lyrics of "Sumer is icumen in" form a secular canon celebrating the arrival of summer through vivid pastoral imagery of nature's renewal and animal life.[20] Preserved uniquely in British Library MS Harley 978, folio 11v, the text dates to the mid-13th century and stands as the only Middle English item in an otherwise Latin- and French-dominant miscellany from Reading Abbey.[14] The original Middle English text reads as follows:Sumer is icumen in,A line-by-line modern English translation, rendered by scholar Bella Millett, captures the song's joyful evocation of seasonal awakening:
Lhude sing, cuccu;
Groweth sed and bloweth med,
And springth the wde nu;
Sing, cuccu!
Awe bleteth after lomb,
Lhouth after calue cu;
Bulluc sterteth,
Bucke uerteth,
Murie sing, cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu,
Wel singes thu, cuccu;
Ne swic thu naver nu.
Pes: Sing, cuccu, nu; sing, cuccu;
Sing, cuccu; sing, cuccu, nu
- Sumer is icumen in: Summer has arrived
- Lhude sing, cuccu: + Sing loudly, cuckoo!
- Groweth sed and bloweth med: The seed grows and the meadow blooms
- And springth the wde nu: And the wood springs/leafs now
- Sing, cuccu: Sing, cuckoo!
- Awe bleteth after lomb: The ewe is bleating after her lamb
- Lhouth after calue cu: The cow is lowing after her calf
- Bulluc sterteth: The bullock is prancing
- Bucke uerteth: [The billy-goat farting]
- Murie sing, cuccu: Sing merrily, cuckoo!
- Cuccu, cuccu: Cuckoo, cuckoo
- Wel singes thu, cuccu: You sing well, cuckoo
- Ne swic thu naver nu: Never stop now
- Pes: Sing, cuccu, nu; sing, cuccu: Sing, cuckoo, now; sing, cuckoo
- Sing, cuccu; sing, cuccu, nu: Sing, cuckoo; sing, cuckoo, now
Latin Version
The Latin version of Sumer is icumen in serves as a sacred contrafactum, providing devotional lyrics to the same melody found in the secular English text. Recorded in the British Library's Harley Manuscript 978 (folio 11v, circa 1250), it features two distinct textual elements: a brief refrain for the repeating pes (ground bass) and a longer poem aligned with the primary canon melody.[20] The placement of these Latin words alongside the English lyrics in the manuscript indicates an intentional dual presentation for both sacred and secular contexts.[24] The short refrain for the pes, intended to be sung repeatedly by two voices in staggered entry, reads:"Sing cuccu nu.
Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu nu!"
This Latin phrasing, using the word cuccu (cuckoo), directly parallels the rhythmic structure and simplicity of the English pes ("Sing cuccu"), facilitating its adaptation to the polyphonic form while maintaining the canon's lively repetition.[20] The extended poem, titled Perspice Christicola, occupies the main melodic line and expands into a meditation on divine redemption, focusing on God's sacrifice of Christ for humanity's salvation. The full text is:
Perspice, Christicola,A literal translation renders it as: "Behold, O follower of Christ, what condescension! The heavenly husbandman, for the fault of the vine, his son not sparing, exposed to the destruction of death—who to the half-alive captives from torment gives life and crowns them with himself on the throne of heaven."[25] This structure fits the canon's six phrases, allowing multiple voices to enter successively while conveying Christian themes of atonement and eternal reward, in contrast to the English version's celebration of nature. The adaptation likely served liturgical or private devotional purposes, repurposing the secular tune for religious meditation on Christ's passion.[24]
Que dignacio!
Celicus agricola
Pro vitis vicio
Filio
Non parcens exposuit
Mortis exicio,
Qui captivos semivivos
A supplicio
Vite donat Et secum coronat
In celi solio.[20]