Italian

18 New Translations

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As I mentioned earlier, I have been asked to create singable translations for all the pieces at St. Cecilia Press, and I am happy to be able to say that I have finished! (Or, at least, I’m caught up until Monique adds more pieces.)

My recent translations include 16 pieces to accompany Monique’s editions, plus two I’ve done just on my own initiative. 🙂 They are as follows: Continue reading →

Winter Holiday Songs

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The reason I’ve been silent for the last month or so is that I’ve been finishing this:

A Collection of Winter Holiday Songs for Medieval & Renaissance Enthusiasts

It’s a big songbook of SCA-Period Christmas carols (and songs for other winter holidays). I’ve been working on it for 2-3 years, and I’m excited to have finally finished it.

The joy of singing holiday songs often comes from revisiting favorites, indulging in memories and joining in the ritual of singing familiar songs with others. I think that’s why many people don’t want to sing SCA-period carols: They want to sing their favorites, and they believe that none of their favorites are old enough to “count”. I hope this songbook will help show that there are plenty of pre-1600 holiday songs that are still popular today.

For example, did you know that the following songs are wholly or partially SCA-period?

  • O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
  • O Tannenbaum
  • What Child Is This?
  • The First Nowell
  • Ding Dong Merrily on High
  • God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
  • Good Christian Men, Rejoice
  • Christ Was Born on Christmas Day
  • The Boar’s Head in Hand Bear I
  • Good King Wenceslas
  • Auld Lang Syne
  • We Wish You a Merry Christmas

I’ve tried to include as many modern favorites as possible, but there are also lots of new songs, too! For more details about how I decided what to include, please read the Forward.

I hope people will find this helpful. As always, if you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me.

Here’s the link one more time.

A few things that I’ll fix the next time I update the pdf:

  • p. 28: A 2-voice version of “Veni, Veni Emanuel” was discovered by Mary Berry in the 1960s. I’ll include it in the next update. (Also, the second word in verse 2 shouldn’t be capitalized. Whoops!)
  • p. 37, 224, & 247: “Sloan” should be spelled “Sloane”.
  • p. 37: The missing sign for the D. S. al Fine belongs at measure 1, just after the pickup.
  • p. 97: Stella ducte lumine means “drawn by the star’s light”.
  • p. 103: I intended to capitalize the song’s title as “Dieux Soit en Cheste Maison”.
  • p. 197: “Sellenger’s Round” is found in My Ladye Nevells Booke of Virginal Music (1591) by William Byrd (c. 1540 – 1623).
  • p. 230: “Sellenger’s Round” appears in the 1687 edition of The English Dancing Master, not the 1651 edition. Also, the tune appears solidly within SCA Period in My Ladye Nevells Booke of Virginal Music (1591) by William Byrd (c. 1540 – 1623).

Note: For several songs, the popular form of the melody (which I have included) is somewhat modified from the original melody as published in period. One good example is page 120, where the modification and its source are noted in the Index but not in the main body of the book.

To add in the next edition: “Dives and Lazarus”

La vida de Culin

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Recently, a friend asked if I would help with a project.

My  friend is hosting a ball next year that has a super-cool theme: All of the dances on the dancelist will be dances performed to tunes that also have lyrics. (In other words, they’re dances, but they’re also songs.) And they’ll all be performed by a choir. There was a similar dance this summer that went very well, so he’s planning next summer’s reprise.

He asked me to write a singable translation for a 15th-century Italian dance called “Vita di Cholino”, which is danced to the song “La vida de Culin”. I happily agreed. However, it wasn’t as straight-forward an assignment as I’d assumed…

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