Nowell, Nowell, Nowell

For Advent, Christmas

The Salutation Carol of the Angel Gabriel
Based on Luke 1:26-38,
The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Words and Music: Traditional English
Bodleian Library. MS. Eng. Poet. e. 1., XV Century.

Source: Thomas Wright, Songs and Carols Now First Printed, From a Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century (London: The Percy Society, 1847), Song #56a, p. 62, printed verbatim from a manuscript [MS. Eng. poet e. 1] probably owned by a professional musician, and apparently written in the latter half of the fifteenth century, circa 1471-1485.

This carol requires the installation of the "Junicode" font for best display. You can obtain a copy of this font from Old English at the University of Virginia, or right click here, and then select "Save File As" to save a copy of the zipped file to your computer. See notes in F A Q.

Nowell, nowell, nowell
This is the salutacyoun of the angell, Gabryell.

Tydynges trew ther be cum new,
sent frome the Trynyte,
be Gabryell to Nazaretj cety of Galile.
A clen maydyn and pure virgin,
thorow her humylyte,
hath concyvyd the person secunde in deyte.

---

Editor's Note:

Below the music was this inscription:

"Thys is the tewyn for the song foloyng; yf so be that 3e wyll have another tewyn, it may be at 3owr plesure, for I have set all the song."

[“This is the tune for the song following; if so be that ye will have another tune, it may be at your pleasure, for I have set all the song.”]

No additional verses were reproduced.

Editor's Note:

Versions of this carol on this site:

• Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel (Richard R. Chope, 1894, source unknown)

• Nowel, This Is The Salutation (Richard R. Terry, ca. 1923, from MS. Eng. poet. e. 1)

• Nowell, Nowell (Thomas Wright, Song #65, 1847, from MS. Eng. poet. e. 1)

• Nowell, Nowell, Nowell (Thomas Wright, Song #56a, 1847, from MS. Eng. poet. e. 1)  [This Page]

• Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell (Edith Rickert, 1914, from the Selden MS)

• The Salutation Carol (Shaw and Dearmer, 1913, from the Selden MS)

• Tidings True, Come Glad And New (Edmund Sedding, from MS. Eng. poet. e. 1, 1863)

• Tidinges, Tidinges That Be True (Chambers and Sidgwick, 1907 from the Landsdowne MS 379)

• Tidings True Be Come Anew (Weston, 1911, from the Balliol MS 354 / Richard Hill Commonplace Book)

Richard L. Greene gives us 24 Carols of the Annunciation in his The Early English Carols (Oxford, 1935), #234-#257, pp. 166-184.

The source manuscript for Thomas Wright's Songs and Carols Now First Printed From a Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century is now in the Bodleian Library. See: MS. Eng. poet. e. 1 (scroll down to get to "e. 1"), c. 1460-1480. There is a single image, fol. 41v, described as "Musical notation in a minstrel's manuscript; the text begins "Nowell, nowell, nowell, þis is þe salutacyon of þe angel gabryell" with "Bryng us in good ale" in lower margin, c. 1460-90; anglicana script." It doesn't appear that the entire volume has been scanned, or, if so, that it is readily available for viewing. 

If you would like to help support Hymns and Carols of Christmas, please click on the button below and make a donation.

Related Hymns and Carols