Rose Without Thorns
Safely preserved in the Wren Library at Cambridge University is a fifteenth-century parchment scroll known as the Trinity Carol Roll. A little more than six-and-a half inches wide, when unrolled the yellowed vellum stretches to more than six-and-a half feet in length. The manuscript contains texts—in Middle English—of thirteen carols. Most notably, this cultural treasure includes notes: the music for these carols in precise notation on five-line staves. And not just the melody of the tune, but harmonic lines of music are included. The Trinity Carol Roll is thus the earliest record we have of medieval English polyphony.
In the Middle Ages, carols were sung on many festive occasions, not just at Christmas. The most famous of the carols included on this scroll is a celebration of Henry V’s victory over the forces of Charles VI of France, known now as the Agincourt Carol. Its five stanzas narrate the heroism of the battle in Middle English, punctuated with an energetic refrain in Latin: Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria! (“Give thanks, England, to God for victory!”)
Most of the carols on this scroll are associated with feasts in the Christian calendar: six marvel at the events of the Nativity, one each honors the feast days of St. Stephen and St. John the Evangelist (which occur during Christmastide), and three carols praise God’s blessing of and through the Virgin Mary.
Mary as the Rose-Tree
The last carol on the roll is in this latter category: “Ther is no rose of swych vertu” (“There is no rose of such virtue”). In recent decades, performances of this carol have been featured on many recordings of Christmas music that venture into the medieval repertoire. (One of my favorite renditions is on an album titled Deo gracias Anglia, on which the ensemble Alamire sings all of the carols from the Trinity Roll).
Following the imagery suggested in Isaiah’s prophecy—that a rod would grow out of the stem of Jesse—the Virgin Mary was described in many medieval texts as a rose-tree or rosebush, from which sprang the perfect Flower. When the text says that there is a rose of unsurpassable virtue, what is in view is not a single blossom but the plant—the rose-tree—that made it possible for the perfect Blossom to come forth. As the carol explains, the marvel of “the rose that bare Jesu” is that
in this rose contained was
Heaven and earth in little space
If you’ve heard this carol, either in its original form or in a modern setting of the text, you may have wondered about the Latin words at the end of each short verse: Res miranda, Pari forma, Gaudeamus, and Transeamus. These words are borrowed from a sequence hymn, Lætabundus, sung at the feast of the Annunciation or the feast of the Purification. The hymn dates back to at least the eleventh century, and the words borrowed in the later carol translate as “a wonderful thing,” “of the same form,” “let us rejoice,” and “let us go.” This last imperative is taken from the first words of the shepherds’ response to the angels when they heard the announcement of the birth of Jesus: “Let us go now even unto Bethlehem.” In the carol, this Latin word is heard after the final verse: “Leave we all this worldly mirth, And follow we this joyful birth.”
Notable Settings
The text of this carol has been set by many composers. It is one of the movements in Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols (1942), set for harp and three upper parts sung by a children’s choir. “There is no rose” is the third movement in the work and one of the most delicate. It is probably also the best-known modern setting of this brief but powerful lyric. If it has any rivals, it is probably the 1954 setting by British composer John Joubert (1927–2019).
Joubert’s anthem begins with soprano and alto parts singing in the simplest of harmonies, parallel thirds, until the Alleluia at the end of the first verse. Then Joubert adds some animation to the sound by having the soprano line begin an ascending series of notes, and stopping every few beats to let the altos catch up. So we hear parallel movement with slight syncopation, and the final note sung in unison. Subsequent verses use similarly simple yet inviting harmonies, involving all four vocal parts in what feels like a quiet acoustic dance. The simplicity of the structure and harmony make Joubert’s setting very powerful, perhaps because its understatement reflects something of the purity of its subject.
Ken Myers is the host and producer of the Mars Hill Audio Journal. Formerly an arts editor with National Public Radio, he also serves as music director at All Saints Anglican Church in Ivy, Virginia. He is a contributing editor for Touchstone.
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