A New Year Carol

‘Auld Lang Syne’ is all very well, but it has never felt like ‘mine’ in the way, for example, ‘Jerusalem’ does, so I shall not be singing in the New Year in the traditional manner. As far as that goes, I shall not be singing anything as the New Year chimes of midnight sound: all being well I’ll be in bed asleep, hoping that the start of 2024 will be considerably happier than the end of 2023 was (see ‘I will consider my cat…).

What I have been listening to and have listened to on many New Year’s Eves is Britten’s sublime ‘New Year Carol’. Composed in 1934, this is part of a collection of songs entitled ‘Friday Afternoons’ that Britten wrote for the school where his brother Robert was headmaster – Friday afternoons were reserved for singing, and quite right too. Britten set the words of a traditional carol ‘Levy Dew’ which found its way into ‘Tom Tiddler’s Ground’ (1931), an anthology of children’s verse edited by Walter de la Mare. The text is exquisite:

Here we bring new water from the well so clear,

For to worship God with, this happy New Year.

Chorus (after each verse):Sing levy-dew, sing levy-dew, the water and the wine,

The seven bright gold wires and the bugles that do shine.

Sing reign of Fair Maid, with gold upon her toe;

Open you the West Door and turn the Old Year go.

Sing reign of Fair Maid, with gold upon her chin;

Open you the East Door and let the New Year in.

Scholars seem to think that the text combines references to a pagan ‘well ritual’ with Christiam symbolism: ‘the seven bright gold wires and the bugles that to shine’ are probably heavenly harps and trumpets, and have a feel of the Book of Revelation; the East and West doors are obviously in a church. I am happy to acknowledge my debt to Wikipedia:

According to Trefor Owen, the song preserves "an early well-cult made acceptable to medieval Christianity by its association with the Virgin and perpetuated both by the desire to wish one's neighbour well at the beginning of a new year and by the small monetary payment involved." Similar speculations from the nineteenth century have sought to link the mysterious maidens of the song with the goddess Aurora, bearing the gold of the rising and setting sun on her head and feet.

The meaning of the words "levy-dew" in the original lyrics of the song is not certainly known. One line of speculation holds that the words represent the Welsh phrase llef ar Dduw or llef y Dduw, "a cry to God". Others connect it to Middle English levedy ("lady"), or to the French phrase levez à Dieu, "raise to God", which may in turn refer to the elevation of the Host in Christian liturgy.

Ultimately, precise meaning is irrelevant, as the words of the carol resonate with what Robert Frost called ‘the sound of sense’ – there is an understanding prompted by the sound of words that is beyond the literal. The magical, mystical text is perfectly complemented by Britten’s music, to provide the listener with an experience which is other-wordly, and, if not religious for the non-believer, then certainly, I hope, spiritual. Listening to this minor masterpiece I feel simpler and better, cleansed and light – nearer to the heart of things.

I am grateful to David Cheal (author with Jan Dalley of ‘The Life of a Song’) for an article he wrote in the Financial Times at the end of 2022, recommending a 1966 recording of ‘A New Year Carol’ by boys from Downside School in Purley (a suburb of Croydon, which is where I live) conducted by the composer. The school no longer exists but Britten thought enough of the boys’ choir to include them in his recording of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in the same year. Their performance of the carol strikes me as ideal: simple, straightforward, and sincere. The voices might lack the polish of cathedral choristers, but in this music that is all to the good. This is just beautiful. The whole CD is well worth hearing, with relatively early performances of ‘A Ceremony of Carols’, ‘Psalm 150’ and ‘A Boy Was Born’, in addition to the whole of ‘Friday Afternoons’.

I am also grateful to David Cheal for pointing me if the direction of a recording of ‘A New Year Carol’ by  Waterson:Carthy – English folk music royalty. This is far jauntier than the Britten, uses a different tune, includes additional references to the North and South ‘gates’, does not mention the well ritual, and, most curiously, has ‘Residue’ as a refrain rather than ‘Levy-Dew’. This is surely an example of a mondegreen – the perpetuation of a mishearing through performance. I had not heard this term before today – thanks again are due to Wikipedia.

In January I shall turn my thoughts towards Epiphany. In the meantime, please accept my very best wishes for a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!