March 21, 2025

I Sing Of A Maiden: Magical realism from the 14C


I sing of a maiden That is makeles; King of all kings To here sone che ches. He cam also still There his moder was As dew in Aprille That fallit on the gras. He cam also still To his moders bowr As dew in Aprille That fallit on the flower. He cam also still There his moder lay, As dew in Aprille That fallit on the spray. Moder and maiden Was never non but che; We may switch a lady Godes moder be. In celebration of spring, equinox and Annunciation, and with the magic of the Middle English poetry as real as the real is magical, we sing you our setting of this exquisite 14th century lyric. Like our local church, this lyric is 700 years old and still singing. We sing it in a 14th century style and recapitulate in a 20th century version marking the genesis and septuacentenary of that (and other such) church. We wrote the Early Music style tune on the harmonium it's performed on and the Modern rock tune is built on an arrangement of the famous Jack Bruce bass riff on Cream's "Sunshine of your Love". The paintings are Fra Lippo Lippi's Madonna and Child, Far Angelico's Annunciation and Gustav Klimt's Mother and Child.

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