In The Ending Of The Year

For Christmas as a Processional Hymn for Christmas-tide.
Version 1
Compare: 
In The Ending Of The Year - Version 2, an adaptation of Neale's translation from Medieval Hymns by George Radcliffe Woodward, ed., Songs of Syon (1908)
In The Ending Of The Year - Version 3 by John Mason Neale, Medieval Hymns (1863)

In hoc anni circulo
See also: Verbum caro factum est de virgin

Words: In hoc anni circulo, German Anonymous, ca. 12^th Century, translated by Rev. John Mason Neale who noted "One of the most popular of Christmas Carols, and is found with greater variations than almost any other. There is scarcely a European language which has not had an ancient translation."

Music: Rev. Thomas Helmore, Piae Cantiones, 1582.
 Melody below from the Jistebnicz Kantional, circa 1420, taken from G. M. Dreves' Cantiones Bohemicae, and harmonized by Rev. G. R. Woodward.

Source: Collected Hymns, Sequences and Carols (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914), from John Mason Neale and Thomas Helmore, Carols for Christmas-tide (London: Novello, 1853).

1. In the ending of the year
Life and light to man appear;
And the Holy Babe is here,
                                De Virgine;
And the Holy Babe is here,
                                De Virgine Mariâ.

2. What in ancient days was slain
This day calls to life again;
God is coming, God shall reign,
                                De Virgine;
God is coming, God shall reign,
                                De Virgine Mariâ.

3. From the desert grew the corn,
Sprang the lily from the thorn,
When the Infant King was born
                                De Virgine;
When the Infant King was born
                                De Virgine Mariâ.

4. On the straw He lays His head,
Hath a manger for His bed,
Thirsts and hungers and is fed
                                De Virgine;
Thirsts and hungers and is fed
                                De Virgine Mariâ.

5. Angel hosts His praises sing,
Three Wise men their off'rings bring,
Ox and ass adore the King,
                                Cum Virgine;
Ox and ass adore the King,
                                Cum Virgine Mariâ.

6. Wherefore let us all to-day
Banish sorrow far away,
Singing and exulting aye,
                                Cum Virgine;
Singing and exulting aye,
                                Cum Virgine Mariâ.

Sheet Music from John Mason Neale and Thomas Helmore, Carols for Christmas-tide: The Condensed Vocal Parts (London: Novello, 1854), pp. 27-30.

Sheet Music from George Ratcliffe Woodward, ed., The Cowley Carol Book For Christmas, Easter, and Ascensiontide, First Series (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., Ltd, 1902, Revised and Expanded Edition 1929), Carol #13
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF / XML

Sheet Music from Thomas Helmore and Thomas Morley, eds., Music of the Appendix to the Hymnal Noted. Containing nearly 250 Tunes for Long, Common, Short, and Peculiar Metres; together with several Gregorian Hymns and Antiphons; the Eight Gregorian Tones; the music of the Reproaches; the Seven Last Words; and Litany Tunes; &c. Second Edition. (Novello, Ewer & Co., No Date, ca. 1870), #352. Also known as "The Tune Book as Used at St. Albans, Holborn."

Sheet Music to a setting by Arthur Henry Brown published by Novello and Company from The Musical Times, No. 778, Vol. 48, December 1, 1907 (London: Novello and Company, Ltd., 1907), 4^th Extra Supplement following p. 840.

Editor's Note.

The text below the title in the Arthur Henry Brown setting was:

"Glory to God, and Joy to all above,
While earth is crown'd with plenty, man with love.
Light flows from Light, yet in its Fount resides,
So Christ from God, yet God in Christ abides.
Born of a Maid, that was both Spouse and Mother,
And so to all, excepting sin, our Brother."
            Dr. Sparke's Seintilla Altaris, A. D. 1700.

This was an excerpt from Poem III, "On The Nativity" whose first line is:

"This Day (as Bridal of the Earth and Sky)"

Rev. Edward Sparke (died 1692) was Chaplain to King Charles II and Vicar of Tottenham, Middlesex, 1666-93. The fuller title of the above work was Seintilla Altaris; or, A Pious Reflection on Primative Devotion as to the Feasts and Fasts of the Christian Church, 1652, with subsequent editions in 1660, 1666 (with his Devotions), 1672, 1678, 1682. Source: Samuel Austin Alibone, A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors, Living and Deceased, from the Earliest Account to the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century: Containing Over Forty-six Thousand Articles (authors), with Forty Indexes of Subjects, Volume 2 of 3 (J. B. Lippincott Company, 1881), p. 2190.

The Second Edition (1660) and all subsequent editions were entitled "Θυσιατήριον vel scintilla altaris," &c. The title page of the edition printed in 1682 stated that it was the Seventh Edition. The last edition was issued in 1700, according to sources.

Note From Rev. Neale.

In the notes to the first carol, "Here Is Joy For Every Age," Rev. Neale noted: "A translation, or free imitation, as are most (in this collection.)" In the Preface to the First Edition, Rev. Neale wrote that only Good King Wenceslas and Toll! Toll! are original.

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