Gothic Voices / The Earliest Songbook In England (XII cent.)

Anonymous – Medieval
The Earliest Songbook in England
Cambridge University Library MS Ff.I.17(1)

1 Verbum Patris Umanatur O O 1:53
2 In Hoc Ortus Occidente 5:01
3 Regis Cuius Potentia 1:22
4 Ecce Torpet Probitas 3:28
5 Magno Gaudens Gaudio 1:37
6 Rerum Deus Conditor 1:05
7 Cantu Miro 5:10
8 Vacillantis Trutine 4:48
9 In Natali Novi Regis 2:31
10 Diastematica 4:07
11 Divino Maduit 0:55
12 Virgo Mater Salvatoris 4:03
13 Tronus Regis Instauratur 1:11
14 Benedicamus Domino: Spiritus Almi 0:48
15 Adulari Nesciens 4:00
16 Agnus Dei: Qui Pius Est Factus 2:22
17 Resonet, Intonet 2:08
18 Ad Honorem Salvatoris 1:56
19 Ad Honorem Salvatoris 2:10
20 Argumenta Faluntur Fisice 3:52
21 Flos Floriger 2:25
22 Licet Eger Cum Egrotis 4:57
23 Ad Cantus Letitie 1:18

Gothic Voices,
Christopher Page

Gothic Voices:

Alto – Catherine King
Baritone – Stephen Charlesworth
Tenors – Charles Daniels, Leigh Nixon, Rogers Covey-Crump, Steven Harrold

Duration 64’40

Recorded on 2–4 December 1999.

Label: Helios/Hyperion – CDH55297
Barcode: 034571152974
Format: CD, Album, Reissue
Country: UK
Released: 2012
Genre: Classical
Style: Medieval, Vocal

Probably copied around 1200, this songbook was discarded within a generation or so and used as flyleaves for another book. It was poorly written, decayed and damp, marred by stains and the ravages of time, but because the pages were being used for another purpose, some unknown benefactor preserved this wealth of music and poetry. The songbook then remained hidden for some six hundred years.

This recording is an almost complete anthology of songs from the booklet. It isn’t known where it was copied, but it is believed to be an important religious foundation that housed by chance a few unusually keen singers. Many of the pieces are associated with major feasts of the liturgical year, including some which fall in the intensely festive period between Christmas and New Year’s Day. The tone of many of the texts is therefore joyful.