Song for summer

Summer in Sydney is at its height in January. The skies are clear and scorching heat sends us in search of the nearest beach or air-conditioner. With February just a few days away, we can look forward to some serious humidity coming our way, too, just as we all head back to work. Still, we can’t complain: the long, hot days and balmy evenings have been filled with Christmas and family, giant New Year celebrations, cricket, the Australian Open tennis; and, for many, some time away at the beach with family and friends. In our embracing of the (very) warm weather we’re no different from those who have gone before us.

In the Middle Ages, in Western Europe, the end of the long, hard winter was greeted with joy and celebration. In fact, one of the earliest surviving English songs is in praise of the arrival of summer. “Sumer is icumen in” was composed by an unknown composer in about 1260 in the Wessex dialect. In form the song is a “rota” which means that it is designed to be sung by two or more singers in a “round”, the first singer performing the first part just ahead of the second who, in turn, is just ahead of the next singer, and so on. You can hear a very merry version of it by the Lumina Vocal Ensemble at http://youtu.be/ZWWEHAswpFI or you might like the slower version with its clear Middle English pronunciation at   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMCA9nYnLWo

And, in case you want to sing along, here are the words in both Middle and Modern English.