The Corpus Christi Carol or Falcon Carol[1] is a
Middle or
Early Modern Englishhymn (or
carol), first written down by an apprentice grocer named
Richard Hill between 1504 and 1536.[2] The original writer of the carol remains
anonymous. The earliest surviving record of the piece preserves only the lyrics and is untitled. It has survived in altered form in the folk tradition as the Christmas carol "
Down In Yon Forest". The structure of the carol is six stanzas, each with rhyming couplets. The tense changes in the fourth stanza from past to present continuous.
While a number of different interpretations have been offered over time,
Eamon Duffy writes that "there can be no question whatever" that the carol's "strange cluster of images" are derived "directly from the cult of the
Easter sepulchre, with its
Crucifix,
Host, and embroidered hangings, and the watchers kneeling around it day and night."[3]
One theory about the meaning of the carol is that it is concerned with the legend of the Holy Grail. In Arthurian traditions of the Grail story, the
Fisher King is the knight who is the Grail's protector, and whose legs are perpetually wounded.[4] When he is wounded his kingdom suffers and becomes a wasteland. This would explain the reference to "an orchard brown".
The text may be an allegory in which the crucified is described as a wounded knight. The bleeding knight could be Christ who bleeds for the sins of humanity endlessly. Christ is most probably represented as a knight as he is battling sin and evil by his continual pain. The "orchard brown" to which the knight was conveyed becomes, in this reading, the "orchard" of wooden crosses that covered the hill of Golgotha/Calvary where Christ - along with many others - was crucified, while the "hall... hanged with purpill and pall" could be a representation of the tomb in which Christ was placed after Crucifixion. This allegorical interpretation would tie in with the seven stanzas possibly representing the Seven Deadly Sins. The maiden who is by the knight's side could be Mary. There is religious symbolism throughout the carol. The falcon may have several possible meanings. It may be that, as a bird of prey, it represents those who killed Christ and sent him to heaven. It may also represent a new beginning and freedom, which Christ gained on his death. The colours in the carol are also significant. The purple and gold are signs of wealth, although these were also colours that referred to the Church due to its wealth. The pall (black velvet) probably refers to death.
Richard Greene theorized in 1960 that the song refers "to the displacement of Queen
Catherine of Aragon by
Anne Boleyn in the affections of King
Henry VIII", because the falcon was Anne's heraldic badge.[5]
Britten setting
Benjamin Britten used the text in the fifth variation of A Boy was Born (Choral Variations For Mixed Voices), Opus 3, in 1933. The text was combined with
Christina Rossetti's "
In the Bleak Midwinter". The solo version of the Christi Carol was arranged for and dedicated to John Hahessy (John Elwes). He recorded the song in 1961 with Benjamin Britten himself at the piano. The song was included in a record with a group of other Britten songs taken from a set of children's songs entitled "Friday Afternoons", also the title of the disc, which were composed for his brother who was a school teacher.
Recordings of the Britten setting (or adaptations of it) include:
Janet Baker recorded Britten's arrangement for high voice on her 1967 album "A Pageant of English Song: 1597-1961" with pianist Gerald Moore.
Singer-songwriter
Jeff Buckley, inspired[6] by Baker's version, included his interpretation on his debut 1994 album, Grace. About his version Buckley said, "The 'Carol' is a fairytale about a falcon who takes the beloved of the singer to an orchard. The singer goes looking for her and arrives at a chamber where his beloved lies next to a bleeding knight and a tomb with Christ's body in it."[7]
Jeff Beck performs his (in turn) Buckley-inspired interpretation on his 2010 album, Emotion & Commotion. In the album
liner notes, the English guitarist states: "When I heard Jeff Buckley's album, the simplicity and the beauty of the way he sounded amazed me."[8]
As World War I came to an end in 1919,
Peter Warlock set the text for soprano and tenor accompanied by a wordless chorus; he rescored it for voices and string quartet in 1927.
John Gerrish wrote a setting for it in 1957, titled "The Falcon".
Jeff Buckley, American singer-songwriter, adapted and released the song on 1994 album "
Grace".
It was set for unaccompanied choir by Norwegian composer
Trond Kverno in 1995.
Judith Bingham set the words for choir and organ in 2012 for Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee.
In 2015 the Chapel choir of
Corpus Christi College, Oxford recorded a choral version, with a setting written by the then senior organ scholar Peter Ladd.
Scottish singer-songwriter
Archie Fisher recorded poet Robert Graves' adaptation (as "passed to him by Robin Hill"), combining elements of this text and "Down in yon forest" and entitled "Looly, Looly", on his album Will Ye Gang, Love (1976).[13]
^Duffy, Eamon (2005). The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England c.1400-1580. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 35.
ISBN0300108281.