(15th century English)
This Christmas carol was written in the 15th century around c1475 and is known by names that include “Thys Endris Night”, “Thys Endris Night” and on occasion “The Virgin and the Child”. Both Joshua Sylvester and the music historian William Henry Husk noted the graceful, tenderness and grace of expression in the manuscript.
There are just two of the original surviving versions of the carol from the 15th century with one being published in Songs and Carols Now First Printed, From a Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century by Thomas Wright for the Percy Society in 1847. The second version is now held in Scotland in Edinburgh’s Advocates’ Library.
Countless artists and ensembles have performed the carol and just some of the recordings it appears on include A Victorian Christmas by The Robert DeCormier Singers, Once As I Remember… by John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir, Gloria!, Gloria! by Benita Valente and the Philadelphia Singers, Song of the Nativity by The Sixteen, Christmas with the Dale Warland Singers by The Dale Warland Singers and A Waverly Consort Christmas by the Waverly Consort and several compilations.
Dale Warland Singers recordings
Three Nativity Carols: The Holly and the Ivy, This Endris Night, Wonder Tidings
Gothic 49208 (CD: Christmas with the Dale Warland Singers)
Arranger – Stephen Paulus
Conductor – Dale Warland
Oboe – Kathleen Robinson
Harp – Kathy Kienzie
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Endris_Night
- https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/this_endris_night.htm
- https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/this_endris_nyghth.htm
- http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/h/i/s/thisendr.htm
- https://hymnary.org/tune/this_endris_nyght
- https://www.allmusic.com/composition/this-endris-night-england-mc0002413684
- https://www.discogs.com/search/?q=this+endris+night&type=all&page=1