Emma Brown
An Apple
SATB
Duration, c.2'
Few things during my adolescence were certain, but one thing was pretty sure: we’d be singing either Ord or Warlock’s setting of ‘Adam Lay Ybounden’ on Christmas Eve, depending on the fragility of the tenor section.
Many other settings exist, so it was a pleasant challenge to add my own to the repertoire. I decided to stay close to the origins of the poem, allegedly dating back to a wandering minstrel in the fifteenth century: hence the modal harmonies. But I also wanted to consider the experience of engaging with the text.
There is a strange logic in this little poem. It argues that, had Adam not taken the apple, and had there thus been no Fall of Man, there would also have been no occasion for Mary to become Queen of Heaven; therefore we should see the taking of the apple as a blessing, since it ultimately gave us cause to praise God.
Now to me, this was about as logical as my toddler arguing that it was a good thing he drew on the walls as it gave me cause to redecorate. This may be why I am more at home as a composer than as a theologian.
However, I liked the idea of setting the poem as the experience of understanding an argument: in this case, the gentle revelation that perhaps the Fall of Man was not all bad. Not because the darkness itself is to be celebrated, but because of what can grow out of it: a felix culpa (happy fault), if you will. For me, this also captures the feeling of Advent: a darkness which allows for light. There is something deeply human in the idea that beauty and goodness can emerge even from the most difficult circumstances.
I hope that my setting, particularly the intimate beginning of the fourth verse, reflects this sense of hope.
Music example(pdf)