Description
Variations based on a Christmas carol taken from the Finnish collection “Piae Cantiones” (1582)
The original mixolydian mode is later transformed into a minor mode, then moved, reverting to mixolydian,
into a sort of waltz, and then back to the original.
The original words begin:
Ecce novum gaudium,
ecce novum mirum,
Virgo parit filium
quae non novit virum,
Quae non novit virum,
sed ut pyrus pyrum,
gleba fert papyrum
florens lilium.
(English version by John Mason Neale)
Here Is Joy For Every Age,
Every generation;
Prince and peasant, chief and sage,
Every tongue and nation:
Every tongue and nation,
Every rank and station
Hath today salvation,
Alle Alleluia.
Literal translation:
Here is a new joy
Here is a new wonder
A virgin gave birth to a son
she never knew a man
she never knew a man
but just as a pear tree bears a pear
and the hard soil bears the pear tree
she bears the lily flower of purity