I Syng of A Mayden - Musical Setting

Musical Setting

As most explicitly noted by the first quatrain, the poem was originally intended to be sung. Indeed, as noted by Stephen Medcalf, Emeritus professor at Sussex University, the text itself seems to imply melody and verse. However, due to the oral tradition of the time, the original melody of the song was not notated and over the course of time was forgotten.

Since the rediscovery of the text, many composers have set the text to music, amongst them diverse choral or vocal interpretations by Martin Shaw, Patrick Hadley, Roger Quilter, John Gerrish, Gustav Holst, Arnold Bax Peter Warlock, R.R. Terry, Lennox Berkeley, Benjamin Britten ("As Dewe in Aprille" in his Ceremony of Carols), Ronald Corp (1975), and John Adams (as the chorus "I Sing of a Maiden" in his opera-oratorio El Niño).