A Christmas special: Gaudete! And what happened to it in the 20th century

The "Tempus Adest" song at 13:50 has the same melody as the "Good King Wenceslas" Christmas carol . Very interesting to incidentally find it here.

13:41 , 14:24 : Most people in Britain and Ireland would immediately associate that other Piae Cantiones melody with its Victorian setting “Good King Wenceslas” (Roud 24754): maybe that’s part of why it never caught on as a choice for the verses of “Gaudete”.

I was first introduced to Gaudete by Steeleye Span in 1974 and was transfixed by it. In addition to becoming an instant fan of the group, I ran out and purchased a copy of Below the Salt specifically so I could transcribe the song, for which I was unable to find a copy at that time. Hearing the history of the piece has been really special and I thank Early Music Sources for creating this video.

Thank you for the excellent video. Tim Hart (Steeleye Span) was the son of an Anglican clergyman so he probably sang in the church choir--a vicar's son with a good voice isn't going to get much choice!--and probably encountered all sorts of sacred music. This may well have included the Woodward version of Gaudete.

The unexpected interest non-classical musicians showed for classical music in the 60s/70s has started to intrigue me more and more.

I am so happy you mentioned the popular and influential Steeleye Span version. It's been a favorite of mine since the '70s. Steeleye Span deserve much credit for popularizing older British folk and early music.

My first exposure was the Steeleye Span version, which completely transfixed me and I had to learn the tune. From the same manuscript you also showed a brief bit of "Tempus adest floridum," a spring-time carol, the melody of which is now used for the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslaus. Your coverage of the history of this lovely tune was most rewarding, thanks

Gaudete's been stuck in my head all week and now I get a video about it recommended? The algorithm is listening to my thoughts now...

It has quickly become an habit for you to create and offer incredibly excellent content. One of the most intelligent and enlightening YouTube channels that I know. Many thanks, and I still hope for more Sweelinck. 🙂

I had a copyright claim for this on my channel once - there was a section of a daily vlog with three of us singing it live at home in a rehearsal and, boom - copyright claim!! I thought I'd have been pretty safe with this one, it being hundreds of years old, but it claimed that the melody was owned by someone in Brazil... maybe I should have disputed it?

Thanks for this history. I first heard GAUDETE when I saw Steeleye Span in LA in 1976. Immediately falling in love with it. And I still love hearing it! ❤🎉

Merry Christmas, Mr Rotem and the Early Music Sources crew, and a blessed new year! Thank you for the wonderful information and timeless music.

My Renaissance group sang the Steeleye Span arrangement in the mid 1970s when it first came out. It was A joy then and still is now.

Steeleye Span's melody for the verse is found almost identically as a breton folk dance tune/song in France. I'd always assumed they had some gregorian common origin, but it seems like it's more complex than I thought ^^ thanks for your videos !

I love this channel! Thank you so much Maestro Rotem & team, for clarifying things to me that my music theory professors could not!! Merry & blessed Christmas to all 😊

Vielen Dank für all die gescheiten, witzigen und schönen Videos! 💌 ( Das Schwein ist so klasse! ) ( Die Mütze!!!)

The first time I heard this song was Steeleye Span. I like it just fine.

What a fantastic video and a fantastic channel. While I've been watching these videos for the last few years, I just completed a university music literature class covering ancient to baroque music, so I'm understanding even more of these concepts. Thanks so much!

When i was little, the headmaster at my montessori school, a huge history lover, taught the 4th-6th graders to sing this in the first 4 part harmony demonstrated here. It has always lived in my head, because of listening to all the older kids practice it on the playground before the xmas party. I remember them singing it beautifully and had no idea anything else about it till now. Thanksbfor dusting off a very old childhood xmas memory!

"Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus" comes from a poem by the ancient Roman poet Catullus. Classical music doesn't often make use of ancient text lke this, so it's quite astonishing to see it applied, while preserving the original metre with correct syllable lengths . "Vitam quae faciant" is from Martial, another ancient Roman poet. You can see elisions ("mea Lesbia‿atque‿amemus") in action, which are common in Italian ("el grillo‿è buon cantore"), Spanish and French lyrics, but not in so-called "ecclesiastical Latin" (no one does "solvet saeclum‿in favilla"). Compare with the ecclesiastical "Gaudete, gaudete" setting which doesn't reflect classical Latin syllable length at all (gau- should always be long, and -te short, etc.).