This very beautiful and moving carol - often known as
’The carol of the hay’ - has been sung to various
tunes, and I have chosen the most popular. The text
exists in various forms, all similar but some longer
than others. As the simple melody, with its insistent
sarabande-like rhythm, can take only so much repetition
in performance, I have followed what seems the
commonest text, reducing its 8 stanzas to 4. In my
transln we have the original’s stanzas 1 and 2; my
st. 3 is the original’s ...(+)
This very beautiful and moving carol - often known as
’The carol of the hay’ - has been sung to various
tunes, and I have chosen the most popular. The text
exists in various forms, all similar but some longer
than others. As the simple melody, with its insistent
sarabande-like rhythm, can take only so much repetition
in performance, I have followed what seems the
commonest text, reducing its 8 stanzas to 4. In my
transln we have the original’s stanzas 1 and 2; my
st. 3 is the original’s 4; my st. 4 is the
original’s st.7. As with many folk songs, there is
much repetition of ideas, so my st. 4 also sums up in
its refrain the burden of the final stanza of the
original. The translation is as accurate as I can make
it, and attempts, too, to hint at the rhymes of the
Polish version. A very lovely carol not, I think, known
to English speakers. Do try it!
PARTITION