Corpus Christi Carol

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Corpus Christi Carol is a Middle or Early Modern English hymn (or carol), first found in a manuscript written around 1504 of an apprentice grocer named Richard Hill. The original writer of the carol remains anonymous.

The predominant theory about the meaning of the carol is that it is concerned with the legend of the Holy Grail. In Arthurian traditions of the Grail story, the Fisher King is the knight who is the Grail's protector, and whose legs are perpetually wounded. Another theory is that the text is an allegory where Christ, referenced in the Crucifixion, is a wounded knight. One recent interpretation is that it was composed about the execution of Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, whose badge was a falcon.[1]

English composers Peter Warlock and Benjamin Britten have both used the carol in composition and applied it to those that died at war. Britten's choral composition, "A Boy was Born, Op. 3: Corpus Christi Carol", dates from 1933, while Warlock's composition "Corpus Christi" is from 1919.[2]

Singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley included his interpretation of Britten's work on his debut 1994 album, "Grace". About his version Buckley said, "The 'Carol' is a fairytale about a falcon who takes the beloved of the singer to an orchard. The singer goes looking for her and arrives at a chamber where his beloved lies next to a bleeding knight and a tomb with Christ's body in it."[3].

The carol also features in The Choirboys's album "The Choirboys", released in 2005.

[edit] Lyrics

He bare hym up, he bare hym down,
He bare hym into an orchard brown.

Lulley, lulley, lully, lulley,
The faucon hath born my mak away.

In that orchard ther was an hall,
That was hanged with purpill and pall.

And in that hall ther was a bede,
Hit was hangid with gold so rede.

Lulley, lulley, lully, lulley,
The faucon hath born my mak away.

And yn that bed ther lythe a knyght,
His wowndes bledyng day and nyght.

By that bedes side ther kneleth a may,
And she wepeth both nyght and day.

Lulley, lulley, lully, lulley,
The faucon hath born my mak away.

And by that bedes side ther stondith a ston,
"Corpus Christi" wretyn theron.

[edit] Glossary

faucon: falcon
mak: mate, love
bare: bore, carried
purpill: purple (the royal color)
pall: a funeral pall, a cloth spread over a coffin
bede: bed
rede: red
lythe: lyeth, lies
wowndes: wounds
bledyng: bleeding
kneleth: kneeleth, kneels
may: maid, maiden
wepeth: weepeth, weeps
stondith: standith, stands
ston: stone
Corpus Christi: body of Christ (latin)
wreten: written