As the nights grow colder and bleak December's winter chill creeps in, a song about a certain dark, spooky bird draws Leith Hill Timeline Choir's Julian Millerchip into visions of ominous ornithological omens...
In our ‘British Bard-Song’ programme, Timeline Choir performs a version of ‘The Three Ravens’. This traditional ballad (originally 13th century) was edited by Stef Conner from Thomas Ravenscroft’s Melismata, Musicall Phantasies Fitting the Court, Citie, and Country Humours (1611). The piece starts with an imagined conversation between the birds about feasting on the body of a newly-slain Knight.
When Stef introduced the song to our repertoire the story seemed familiar. I recalled that Steeleye Span’s debut album in 1970 featured the similar ancient ballad ‘Twa Corbies’ and found that other artists had covered it. This prompted me to ask, what was it about these pitch-black birds that inspired the imagination of songsters?
We are perhaps familiar with the Tower of London’s famous Ravens, and the superstition that surrounds them, i.e. Britain will fall if the ravens depart. It is small comfort perhaps that the Tower’s birds apparently have their flight feathers clipped!
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable states that the raven was considered “a bird of ill omen, fabled to forebode death, and to bring disease and ill luck”. Shakespeare’s Macbeth said that “The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements.” Cicero was forewarned of his death by the fluttering of ravens. We are told that when ravens forsake their normal abode, one may look for famine and mortality. The Romans held that ravens were once as white as swans, but legend had it that a raven drew the wrath of Apollo for informing the god about the unfaithfulness of his beloved nymph Coronis. In Norse legend, the ‘fatal raven’ was consecrated to Odin, the war god. It was the emblem of the Danish standard. If the Danish arms were destined to defeat, the raven hung its wings, but if victory was to come, then the bird’s wings were erect and soaring – as if inviting the warriors to follow. Two ravens sat on Odin’s shoulders, representing mind and memory. Another Shakespeare reference, taken from Othello: “O! It comes o’er my memory, as doth the raven o’er the infected house, boding to all”
Legends surrounding their presence at the Tower of London feature their particular interest in the bodies of executed traitors…
You Are Wolf (AKA Kerry Andrew), the amazing composer commissioned to write for British Bard-Song!, performing her arrangement of Thomas Ravenscroft’s The Three Ravens. Timeline choir will sing their own version of the same song this november…
So much for the folklore…what about the ornithology?
Well, the Raven (Corvus Corax) is largest of the passerine or perching birds. With a wingspan between 115 and 130 centimetres it is massive; similar in size to a Buzzard. In Britain its natural territory is in the west, favouring remote areas, but it roams widely and mates for life. It is shy and wary; an omnivore which in winter is a frequent visitor at carrion. It seems likely that in former times it was more common.
All in all, it seems unsurprising then that this large bird, with a plumage that reflects so little light, fired the imagination of the ancients, and gave Timeline Choir such an excellent topic for a splendid song.
Julian Millerchip
November 2016
As well as a mixture of solo and small ensemble songs from the choir, there will be opportunities for the audience to learn a few harmonies and join in with some much-loved folk songs.
