Tempus adest floridum

Tempus adest floridum. from Piae Cantiones. This spring carol, translated as ‘Spring has now unwrapped the flowers’, is one of two in the section entitled ‘De Tempore Vernali Cantiones’ in Piae Cantiones (Greifswald, 1582). It had four verses, celebrating the return of the flowers that winter had concealed, and praising God for the joyful time of the year (‘Gaudeamus igitur tempore iucundo’). See AH 45. 171. The tune is famous in English-speaking countries: it was used by John Mason Neale* for ‘Good King Wenceslas looked out’* in his Carols for Christmas-tide...