carol

[Matthew Allen Newsome <mnewsome@warren-wilson.edu>]

Poster: Matthew Allen Newsome <mnewsome@warren-wilson.edu>

Byrun scripsit:
Does anyone have documentation for "The Joys of Mary"- it's a
english X-mas carol that begins...

"The first good joy that Mary had it was the joy of one..."


------

According to the book, _The New Oxford Book of Carols_, ed. by Hugh Keyte 
and Andrew Parrott, there are 3 versions of this song.
One is "The Seven Joys of Mary."  They say it is "English traditional," 
and attribute the arrangement they give to R. R. Terry (1865-1938).  
Another is "The Seven Rejoices of Mary," and they attribute it to "Irish 
Traditional."  The third is "The Blessings of Mary," which is US 
Traditional and taken from the Journal of American Folklore in 1935.
The book has several chapters on medieval carols from various languages, 
so the fact that they did not include this song in with those tells me 
that they could find no evidence of medieval dating.  
The book is an excellent resource for carols, and avialable for ILL from 
the Warren Wilson College library.  It includes both lyrics and music for 
all the songs.
Hope this helps.
Aye,
Eogan
=======================================================================
List Archives, FAQ, FTP:  http://sca.wayfarer.org/merryrose/
            Submissions:  atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
        Admin. requests:  majordomo@atlantia.sca.org