The haunting and bittersweet sounds of Middle-Aged England resounded through the small church decked out in seasonal garb including two hanging candelabras, as the six singers who constitute Lionheart offered a musical banquet in their program Tydings Trew: Feasts of Christmas in Medieval England.

Combining homophonic music (unharmonized melody) with Gregorian chant and polyphony, the presentation began with the Annunciation (March 25) and continued through the Nativity to the Epiphany (January 6). Some of the works were in Latin, but most were in Middle English, a language still in the process of transformation from its Saxon roots. Though religious in nature, the secular verses were intended for everyone when only a select few beyond the church clerics could have understood the Latin. Some of the works even combine Latin with English texts.

Marking the Annunciation, the opening selection, a lovely carol, Nowell, nowell…Tydings Trew, however, was all but lost as the group sang it from outside the building and all that could be heard were quiet snatches of this single melody. The six then entered mounting the dias with the tender and beautiful carol Hayl Mary, ful of grace…The Holi Goste with its unmistakably early English harmonies.

As the program notes indicated, carols were only in later times associated specifically with Christmas. They were originally bawdy dances performed at festivals of debauchery and drunkenness.

Most of these pieces have come down to us anonymously, but a few were from named composers such as the Old Hall Manuscript motet Nesciens mater (Mother without carnal knowledge) by Bittering. More importantly, Gaude virgo mater Christi (Be glad, mother of Christ), a work from the Epiphany section was composed by William Cornysh who was among the foremost English composers of the Tudor period and a favorite of Henry VIII.

Much of the program was fairly subdued in nature, the Nativity carol Nowel, nowel…Owt of your slepe aryse bringing the group to its loudest volume. Serenely mellifluous if rather foreign-sounding to modern ears, this selection of music offered only one tune commonly sung today, the carol Lully lulla…O sisters too, a charming melody which later became known as the Coventry Carol.

While the ensemble creates a rich blend of voices, a bit more animation in the singing, especially the secular songs, would not have gone amiss. These were rude even rowdy times the music, especially in the dead of winter, provided one of life’s few comforts. Performance practices of time, while no one can be sure, must certainly have reflected the character of the age.

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