Mirie It Is While Sumer Ilast: old English Song - piano sheet music and audio

"Mirie It Is While Sumer Ilast" translates as "Merry it is While Summer Lasts". It is a song in "Middle English" dating from the early 13th Century. It was rediscovered and then studied when a damaged piece of manuscript was found in the Bodleian Library of Oxford University - see the image alongside. It took some guesswork to fill in some gaps in the manuscript, and to interpret it in modern notation. The song is usually now sung in a lilting dotted rhythm (even though that isn't explicitly notated in the manuscript) and a basic accompaniment of modal harmonies and percussion is usually provided in recitals and recordings. The song dates from the same century as Sumer Is Icumen In and has the same focus on the summer season, so the two songs are often associated, especially when discussing examples of early music notation or folk songs from the Medieval period. Both songs were also adapted for use in the 1973 movie The Wicker Man. Our arrangement of the song is for Piano Solo and includes 2 instrumental verses. The first verse is essentially an "Easy Piano" arrangement, and the second verse is a little harder with additional harmony notes in both hands.

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