Whann Battayle smethinge (John Wall Callcott)

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(Posted 2023-09-12) CPDL #75358:

Editor: Christopher Shaw (submitted 2023-09-12). Score information: A4, 4 pages, 193 kB Copyright: CC BY SA

Edition notes: Please click on the link for preview/playback/PDF download.

(Posted 2008-04-13) CPDL #16597: (Sibelius 5)

Editor: Jonathan Goodliffe (submitted 2008-04-13). Score information: A4, 5 pages, 60 kB Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: Dynamics have been modernised and original spelling of poem by Chatterton restored.

General Information

Title: Whann Battayle smethinge
Composer: John Wall Callcott
Lyricist: Thomas Chatterton (1752 – 1770)

Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: ATTB
Genre: Secular, Glee

Language: Middle English
Instruments: A cappella (originally). Piano accompaniment added by William Horsley (1774-1858).

First published: 1788 Warren's twenty-sixth collection
First published: 1824 Horsley (memorial edition)
Description: Winner of a Catch Club Prize Medal, 1787. Callcott had submitted over an hundred compositions for consideration that year; a fecundity which spurred the Catch Club to impose a limit of three entries by each composer in the following year. Chatterton's authorship of this supposedly mediaeval text had been established only very recently.

External websites:

Original text and translations

Middle English text

From “The Tournament, an interlude”, by Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770),
lines 161-168 and 173-176

MYNSTRELLES

Whann Battayle, smethynge¹ wythe new quickenn'd gore,
Bendynge wythe spoiles, and bloddie droppynge hedde,
Dydd the merke² woode of ethe³ and rest explore,
Seekeynge to lie onn Pleasures downie bedde,

Pleasure, dauncyng fromm her wode,
Wreathedd wythe floures of aiglintine,
Fromm hys vysage washedd the bloude,
Hylte⁴ hys swerde and gaberdyne.

[ Wythe syke an eyne shee swotelie⁵ hymm dydd view, ]
[ Dydd foe ycorvenn⁶ everrie shape to joie, ]
[ Hys spryte dydd chaunge untoe anodherr hue, ]
[ Hys armes, ne spoyles, mote anie thoughts emploie. ]

All delyghtsomme and contente,
Fyre enshotynge⁷ fromm hys eyne,
Ynn hys arms hee dydd herr hente⁸,
Lyche the merk⁹-plante doe entwyne.

[ Soe, gyff thou lovest Pleasure and herr trayne, ]
[ Onknowlachynge¹⁰ ynn whatt place herr to fynde, ]
[ Thys rule yspende¹¹, and ynn thie mynde retayne; ]
[ Seeke Honnoure fyrste, and Pleasaunce lies behynde. ]

Note: Bracketed text not part of the musical setting

Footnotes:
¹ smoaking, steaming
² dark, gloomy
³ ease
⁴ hid, secreted
⁵ sweetly
⁶ moulded
⁷ shooting, darting
⁸ grasp, hold
⁹ night-shade
¹⁰ ignorant, unknowing
¹¹ consider