This edition was prepared by Humphrey Thompson — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Benedicite! What dreamed I?
Staff Notation • Secular, Partsongs
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2 editions of this piece
Different typesettings and voicings of the same work. This page shows the main edition; the others are below.
ATB · David Fraser
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Benedicite! What dreamed I? by Robert Fayrfax — Lyrics
Benedicite what dremyd I this nyʒt
methought the worlde was turnyd upsodowne
the son the moone hade lost ther force and lyʒt
the see also drowned both towre and towne.
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About Benedicite! What dreamed I?
Robert Fayrfax was a leading English composer of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. This part-song for three male voices (ATB) sets a vivid English text describing a dream of the world turned upside down. The imagery of the sun and moon losing their light, and the sea drowning town and tower, creates a sense of cosmic disarray. The narrator then recounts a further marvel: hearing a voice that reminds him that his lady has forgotten to be kind, linking the personal to the universal. The piece captures the anxious and sometimes surreal atmosphere of the dream, reflecting the intricate and expressive style of its time.
