The manuscript of what is said to be the oldest song in the UK is coming back to Berkshire.
‘Sumer Is Icumen In’ (Summer is coming) was written at Reading Abbey 500 years ago.
It will be on display in Reading Library until May 9, on loan from the British Library. This is the first time the document has been back in the town since the dissolution of Reading Abbey in 1539.
The round is sometimes known as the Reading Rota and dates from 1240.
The manuscript is now housed in the British Library but there is a tablet of stone in the ruins at Reading Abbey.
The medieval song has had a part in a number of films and even a children’s television programme.
It was used at the climax of The Wicker Man in 1973, in a mixed translation by Peter Shafferm and is the round sung by the mice in the 1974 British children’s TV show Bagpuss.
It was also used twice in 1982. Firstly in the animated film The Flight of the Dragons and secondly in Woody Allen’s 1982 A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy.
The song was used in the 1993 film Shawdowlands and it was sung by actress Glenn Close in 1991 in television movie Sarah, Plain and Tall.
It is sung by four tenor voices in Wessex dialect.
The manuscript is called Sumer is icumen in, which is Middle English for ‘Summer has arrived’. It starts with the lines: “Sumer is icumen in / lhude sing cuccu” meaning “Summer has arrived / Loudly sing, cuckoo!”
It is thought to have been written by monks at Reading Abbey in the mid-13th century.
It’s believed to be the earliest English song where the music has survived to this day. It’s also an impressive piece of music in its own right – written for six voices all singing different parts at the same time, making it one of the earliest examples of this style of singing ever written.
The manuscript is displayed in a special case in The Story of Reading gallery, just a short walk from the Abbey ruins where it was probably created.
Head of culture programmes at the British Library Helen Schulte said: “We’re so thrilled to be lending Reading Libraries and Museums the ‘Sumer is icumen in’ manuscript, as part of our programme, British Library on Tour, which shares special items from the national collection with people across the UK.
“We are thankful to The Dorset Foundation for their support of this programme and we can’t wait for visitors to Reading Museum to see the ‘Reading Rota’ manuscript in the very place it’s believed to have been created in, over 500 years ago. ”
