English Traditional, c. 1420
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF / XML
1. There is no rose of such virtue
As is the rose that bare Jesu;
Alleluia.
2. For in this rose contained was
Heaven and earth in little space;
Res miranda.
3. By that rose we may well see
That he is God in persons three,
Pari forma.
4. The angels sungen the shepherds to:
Gloria in excelsis deo:
Gaudeamus.
5. Leave we all this worldly mirth,
And follow we this joyful birth;
Transeamus.
6. Alleluia, res miranda,
Pares forma, gaudeamus,
Transeamus.
Notes:
1. Also found in Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), p. 8, omitting the sixth verse. She also notes at page 149:
"This is one of thirteen carols found in a Cambridge MS., T.C.C.o. 3, 58, part of which at least is attributed to John Dunstable of Henry VII's Chapel. It is quite uncertain whether he wrote the words as well as the music."
Translations from Rickert:
- Res miranda is translated as "Wonderful thing."
- Pares forma is translated as "Equal in form."
- Gloria in excelsis deo is translated as "Glory on high to God."
- Gaudeamus is translated as "Let us rejoice."
- Transeamus is translated as "Let us follow."
2. A SAT musical setting was transcribed and edited by John Stevens, 1963, and is available from from Stainer & Bell, Ltd., London. The notes to that this carol state that it came from a manuscript roll of carols, copied out in the early 15th century and now in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. In that edition, the first verse both precedes and follows the verses, with a different musical line. The tenor line carries the melody. That setting also omits the sixth verse, above.
J. A. Fuller Maitland, English Carols of the Fifteenth Century. London: The Leadenhall Press, E.C., ca. 1891, XIII.
Carol in Original Form From a 15th Century Manuscript
Carol in Modern Form
