Friday, October 26, 2007

John Taverner (c 1490-1545)


Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed / By the stream and o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee;

He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and he is mild.
He became a little child.

I, a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little lamb, God bless thee!
Little lamb, God bless thee!


Sheet music: John Taverner

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Easy mistake to make but the words of this poem have nothing to do with the Renaissance John Taverner!
They were written by William Blake and set to music by the 20th century composer John Tavener.

Russell McNeil said...

oops - oh well - it's such a nice poem I will leave it in place!

Anonymous said...

but by the way The twentieth century composer is a direct descendant of his 15th century predecessor. So there is some link

Russell McNeil said...

Makes me feel much better! Don't you love the web's capacity to make a conversation that is now well over a year old feel like a few minutes at a coffee shop?