Gaudete: A Song History
The carol’s title is the Latin for “rejoice.”[1] It was first published in Piae Cantiones, a Latin collection of church and school songs printed at Greifswald by Augustin Ferber in 1582.[2][3] The title page credits Theodoricus Petri of Nyland with seeing the book into print, and the National Library of Finland’s catalogue names Jacobus Petri Finno as its editor.[2]
Workshop of Henri d’Orquevaulx, The Nativity: Leaf from a Book of Hours, ink, tempera and gold on vellum, c. 1420–30. A medieval Nativity, shown for the carol’s Christmas subject and era; it has no connection to the carol.
The 1582 book gives no music for the verses, and later editions disagree widely about how the verses should go.[3][4] Notes from The Shorter New Oxford Book of Carols, reproduced on Mainly Norfolk, trace the verses to a medieval Bohemian song, Ezechielis Porta, which Finnish clerical students would probably have learned in Prague.[4] The same notes credit the refrain, probably, to Finno himself, and connect one verse with the eastern gate in Ezekiel’s vision, long read as an emblem of Mary’s enduring virginity.[4] The music publisher Boosey & Hawkes likewise describes the verses as coming from a medieval Czech song.[5]
The English folk-rock band Steeleye Span recorded it on their album Below the Salt (1972), with all five members credited on vocals and no instruments listed for the track.[6] Guitarist Bob Johnson had first heard it in his father-in-law’s church.[4] Issued as a single in December 1972 and reissued in November 1973, it became the band’s first major chart hit.[4] The reissue entered the UK singles chart on 8 December 1973 and climbed to No. 14 during a nine-week run.[7] It has since become a favorite of choirs: the Choral Public Domain Library holds more than twenty editions and arrangements, in voicings from three to eight parts.[3] Karl Jenkins arranged it for eight-part choir, to be sung unaccompanied or with percussion, for the vocal group Tenebrae.[5] Mark Gilston includes it in Christmas With Dulcimers, a book of mountain dulcimer tablature that mixes familiar Christmas standards with lesser-known melodies.[8]
Sources
- BBC Music Magazine (classical-music.com): "When was 'Gaudete' written?".
- National Library of Finland (Doria): "Piæ cantiones" (1582).
- Choral Public Domain Library: "Gaudete (Anonymous)".
- Mainly Norfolk: "Gaudete [trad.]".
- Boosey & Hawkes: "Karl Jenkins: Gaudete".
- Mainly Norfolk: "Steeleye Span: Below the Salt".
- Official Charts: "Gaudete, Steeleye Span – chart history".
- Mark Gilston: "Christmas With Dulcimers".
- Image: Workshop of Henri d’Orquevaulx, The Nativity: Leaf from a Book of Hours, ink, tempera and gold on vellum, c. 1420–30. The Cleveland Museum of Art.