Psallite!

This post was a hard one for me. I knew that I wanted to post a dual-language song here, as there is a huge, rich tradition of 'macaronic' Christmas carols from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Probably the best know of these is In Dulce Jubilo, which is a great song. I considered just posting that one for a while, but it is hard to find a version which is not beautifully sung by choirs in four part harmony. Mind you, I have nothing against choirs - I sang in one for a brief period during high school - but these earlier sort of carols tend to benefit from a certain roughness around the edges; a little less perfection, and a little more enthusiasm. 

I spent most a good portion of this evening looking for a song that fit my pre-conceived idea of what I wanted to post. Connie Dover does an extremely satisfying cover of Personent Hodie, in both English and Latin, as part of a medley of songs she calls Cantus. Unfortunately, Cantus as a whole is more suited to Lent than to Christmas, so that one went out. The Boar's Head Carol is mighty good fun, but I had sort of had my heart set on something a bit more religious. There is a really, really wonderful old song, originally written in German, called Maria Wanders Through the Wood, which would have been ideal. We used to sing when I was growing up, and it is beautiful:

Maria wanders through the wood,
Kyrie Eleison!

Through a barren wood of barren thorn

That for seven years no bloom hath born.

Jesus and Maria!

What 'neath her heart doth Mary bear?

Kyrie Eleison!
A little Child doth Mary bear

Beneath her heart He nestles there.
Jesus and Maria!

And as the two are passing near,

Kyrie Eleison!

Lo! Roses on the thorns appear,

Red roses on the thorns appear.

Jesus and Maria!

Unfortunately, I could not find a single version of that which I would want to listen to, so I let that one go very reluctantly. I nearly gave up at that point, because, in between the songs I really wanted, I was playing 'click the link' with youtube suggestions, on the off chance that something fantastic would appear, and becoming quite despondent when nothing did.

That is how I ended up settling on this tune: Psallite, Unigenito - a song in Latin and German, by the Weaverly Consort. This was really quite the thing at home for a while. I checked out a CD of Renaissance Christmas music from the college, and this was everyone's  favourite. My sisters and I - all of us rather light-voiced and soprano-ish - sort of faked as many of the parts as we could, including the bass, and sang it with a good deal of enthusiasm. It is probably the first 'ancient music' carol I ever owned, and I still have a particular soft spot for it

The translation of the Latin and the German runs something like this:

Sing your psalms to Christ,
the begotten Son of God,
sing your psalms to the Redeemer,
to the Lord, the little Child
lying in a manger bed.
A small Child lies in the manger.
All the blessed angels fall before Him
and sing.
Sing your psalms to Christ,
the begotten Son of God,
sing your psalms to the Redeemer,
to the Lord, the little Child
lying in a manger bed.

(As a side note, I rather think my sisters and I ought to get our hands on some of these old songs, and give them a proper cover, the poor things.)