Adam lay y-bounden

Adam lay y-bounden. English, ca. 1400, author unknown. This carol is found in the British Library Sloane MS 2593. It is thought to date from ca. 1400. It was printed in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928), with a tune by Peter Warlock (1894-1930). It has since become widely known through its inclusion in the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols* at King’s College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve, when it normally follows the First Lesson, telling of the judgement of God on Adam and Eve and the serpent. At King’s College it is sung to a tune by Boris Ord*, who was organist there from 1929 to 1957 (apart from war service), in felicitous tribute to him. This has become the best known setting for the...

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