Product Description
"A Virgin Most Pure" is an English traditional carol that appeared in Davies Gilbert's A Collection of Ancient Christmas Carols, with the Tunes to which they were formerly sung in the West of England (London, 1822). The first verse and refrain are as follows:
"A virgin most pure, as the prophets do tell, / Hath brought forth a baby, as it hath befell; / To be our Redeemer from death, hell, and sin, / Which Adam's transgression had wrapped us in.
"[Refrain] Aye, and therefore be merry; / Rejoice, and be you merry; / Set sorrow aside; / Christ Jesus our Saviour was born on this tide."
The tune is built upon the Mixolydian scale (seventh mode), having the same sequence of tones and semitones as a major scale but with a lowered seventh degree. In this arrangement, the occasional addition of the flat seventh to the tonic chord and its use as a leading tone in some harmonic progressions emphasizes the modal quality of the tune.
©Copyright 2013 Todd Marchand / ConSpiritoMusic. Visit www.conspiritomusic.com
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