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Sumer Is Icumen In
If you visit the Abbey Ruins you will find, on the north wall of
the
Chapter House, a plaque engraved with the famous medieval song Sumer
is icumen in. This joyful round, almost certainly written in the
Abbey around 1250, is the first known secular English song for six
or more voices, and displays a musical complexity way ahead of its
time. Its alternative name, the Reading Rota, has given the town
a permanent and important place in the history of music, and Sumer
is perhaps the most enduring monument of our long-lost royal monastery
Two Rivers Press, Reading’s own publisher, is celebrating
Midsummer Day by producing a beautifully illustrated version of
this song, with a full-colour facsimile of the original manuscript
and an explanatory text by Chaucer scholar Phillipa Hardman of Reading
University. Sally Castle’s lively illustrations exactly portray
the celebration of spring (not summer – read it to find out
why) which is depicted in both words and music. And if you want
to try singing it, there’s a modern version of the music as
well.
This pocket-sized book
is an ideal present or stocking-filler
read
the text
press
release in pdf 2MB
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