Date,
ownership, and contents
British
Library, MS Harley 978, is a manuscript from Reading Abbey dating
from the mid-thirteenth century. Reading Abbey, however, did not
have a scriptorium, and the MS was probably copied at Oxford,
which as a university town was a major centre of book production
by this period. It was probably owned by one of the three Reading
monks it mentions, William of Winchester, a lover of music whose
history was otherwise undistinguished and occasionally scandalous;
on a visit to Leominster Priory in the 1270s, he was brought
before the Bishop of Hereford for incontinence with a number of
women, including a nun of Limebrook Priory.
The
manuscript is a miscellaneous compilation, mainly of Latin and
French texts, useful or entertaining rather than devotional; it
includes other musical pieces (all religious), medical material,
Goliardic satires, the earliest and best text of the Lais of
Marie de France, and a French poem on hawking. Sumer is icumen
in is the only Middle English text in the manuscript,
and it is possible that it was included primarily for its musical
interest.
See Booklist
for further reading.
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How
to sing karaoke from the original manuscript
Go to
the new British Library
(nearest Tube: King's Cross / St Pancras), and up the main
stairway to the John Ritblat Gallery. Turn left as you go through
the door; and you will see Harley MS 978, open at Sumer is
icumen in, in a display case in the corner. Put on the nearby
earphones, press the appropriate button, listen to the
Hilliard ensemble (Harmonia Mundi, HMC 901 154 (1985)) singing the
tune, and sing along with them (you may be thrown out for this, of
course. Don't get too carried away).
[postscript:
the last time I looked, the MS was no longer on display. Perhaps
someone did get too carried away?]
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