A carol for Twelfth Day​/​Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve

from Old Christmas Returned by Passamezzo

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £1 GBP  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in jewel case with 16 page booklet

    Includes unlimited streaming of Old Christmas Returned via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      £15 GBP or more 

     

about

A song for Twelfth Night; lute duo and Robert Herrick's poem 'Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve'

lyrics

A Carol for Twelfth Day
Now farewell, good Christmas, adieu and adieu,
I needs now must leave thee, and look for a new;
For till thou returnest, I linger in pain,
And I care now how quickly thou comest again.
But ere thou departest I purpose to see
What merry good pastime this day will show me;
For a king of the wassail this night we must choose,
Or else the old customs we carelessly lose.
The wassail well spiced about shall go round,
Thou it cost my good master best part of a pound:
The main in the buttery stands ready to fill
Her nappy good liquor with heart and good will.
And to welcome us kindly our master stands by,
And tells me in friendship one tooth is a-dry.
Then let us accept it as lovingly, friends;
And so for this twelfth-day my carol here ends.
New Christmas Carols, 1661.

Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve
Down with the rosemary and bays, down with the mistletoe;
Instead of holly, now up-raise the greener box (for show).
The holly hitherto did sway; let box now domineer
Until the dancing Easter day, or Easter's eve appear.
Then youthful box which now hath grace your houses to renew;
Grown old, surrender must his place unto the crisped yew.
When yew is out, then birch comes in, and many flowers beside;
Both of a fresh and fragrant kin to honour Whitsuntide.
Green rushes, then, and sweetest bents, with cooler oaken boughs,
Come in for comely ornaments to re-adorn the house.
Thus times do shift ; each thing his turn does hold;
New things succeed, as former things grow old.
Robert Herrick: Hesperides, 1648

credits

from Old Christmas Returned, released March 2, 2017
Robin Jeffrey: Lute
Alison Kinder: Bass viol
Richard Mackenzie: Lute
Michael Palmer: Actor, Baritone

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Passamezzo image

Passamezzo London, UK

London based early music ensemble specialising in English 16th and 17th repertoire.

Early modern music, song, ballads, theatre & dance. Viols, lute, voices, violin, recorders, harp. Christmas, Elizabethan, Tudors, Stuarts

Part of the intercultural project 'Shore to Shore', working with Moroccan Sufi musicians, Ensemble Mogador. ... more

contact / help

Contact Passamezzo

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Passamezzo, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now