Sumer Is Icumen In

"Sumer Is Icumen In" (also called the Summer Canon and the Cuckoo Song) is a medieval English rota of the mid-13th century.

The title translates approximately to "Summer Has Come In" or "Summer Has Arrived" (Roscow 1999, ). The song is composed in the Wessex dialect of Middle English. Although the composer's identity is unknown today, it may have been W. de Wycombe. The manuscript in which it is preserved was copied between 1261 and 1264 (Wulstan 2000, 8).

This rota is the oldest known musical composition featuring six-part polyphony (Albright 1994, ), and is possibly the oldest surviving example of independent melodic counterpoint.

It is sometimes called the Reading Rota because the earliest known copy of the composition, a manuscript written in mensural notation, was found at Reading Abbey; it was probably not drafted there, however (Millett 2004). The British Library now retains this manuscript (Millett 2003a).

Rota

A rota is a type of round, which in turn is a kind of partsong. To perform the round, one singer begins the song, and a second starts singing the beginning again just as the first got to the point marked with the red cross in the first figure below. The length between the start and the cross corresponds to the modern notion of a bar, and the main verse comprises six phrases spread over twelve such bars. In addition, there are two lines marked "Pes", two bars each, that are meant to be sung together repeatedly underneath the main verse. These instructions are included (in Latin) in the manuscript itself:

Cuckoo (disambiguation)

A cuckoo is a bird of the family Cuculidae.

Cuckoo may also refer to:

People

Places

Music

Film and television

Cuckoo Song (instrumental)

"Cuckoo Song" is a musical piece written by Michael Praetorius (1571 – 1621). In 1977 British musician Mike Oldfield released an arrangement of the piece as a single.

Mike Oldfield single

Mike Oldfield released a version of "Cuckoo Song" in 1977 as a non-album single on Virgin Records. The B side, a musical precursor of Incantations and which could almost be a part of it, is an original composition by Oldfield. The single (in a plain white sleeve) was included as a free bonus when the double LP Incantations was released in 1978. It is one of the many non-album singles which Oldfield released in the 1970s. "Cuckoo Song" also features Les Penning.

Track listing

References

The Cuckoo

The Cuckoo can refer to:

The Cuckoo (film)

The Cuckoo (Russian: «Кукушка», translit. Kukushka) is a 2002 Russian historical comedy drama film directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin. It takes place during World War II from the perspective of opposing Soviet and Finnish soldiers stranded at a Sami woman's farmhouse. "Kukushka" was the nickname given by Soviet soldiers to Finnish cuckoo snipers, who ambushed their targets from a purpose-built tree-branch-nest. Thus the title refers to both Veikko (the sniper) and Anni (whose name means cuckoo in Sami, and who is a lone woman living in the forest, much like a cuckoo).

Plot

September 1944. Several days before Finland, a co-belligerent of Nazi Germany, pulls out of the Continuation War against the Soviet Union, Veikko (Ville Haapasalo), a Finnish soldier, is turned in by his Finnish and German compatriots for being a pacifist and, in their eyes, a would-be deserter. As a punishment, the young man is placed in shackles, chained to a rock outcrop in a remote Lapland forest, left with nothing but a few supplies, rifle and ammunition - effectively made a forced Kamikaze kukushka sniper. To ensure his willingness to fight, they dress him in the uniform of the Waffen-SS, as Soviet soldiers felt little mercy towards SS men. Days pass, and after several failed attempts, Veikko succeeds in freeing himself and heads for safety, shackles still attached.

The Cuckoo (novel)

The Cuckoo (不如帰, Hototogisu) is a renowned Japanese novel published by author Kenjirō Tokutomi (Rōka Tokutomi) in serialized form between 1898 and 1899.

Synopsis

The Cuckoo explores the theme of a marriage coming to grief in which both husband and wife belong to the privileged class. Namiko is the daughter of a general. Takeo is a Naval officer, son of a baron now deceased. At first, they are happily married. Then three sources of unhappiness ruin it all. The first is Taneo, Takeo's cousin and Namiko's rejected suitor. Then there is the wicked mother-in-law. Finally, Namiko contracts tuberculosis.

Along with those sources of woe, Roka deals in conflicting values, traditional and modern. Takeo is torn between the absolutism of the family and individual moral authenticity. His mother urges him to divorce Namiko, whose illness prevents her from having children. Even though it means the end of his lineage, he refuses to take a course of action he considers inhumane and unethical. Takeo's choice is dramatically enhanced by the outbreak of war. He is called up for active duty, leaving Namiko unprotected. His mother, encouraged by the vengeful Taneo, takes matters into her own hands. She in effect dissolves her son's marriage by sending her wife back into her family. Namiko soon dies in despair. As Namiko lies dying, an old woman brings her a copy of the Christian Bible, which they discuss.