Piae Cantiones (1582)

Composer

PIAE CANTIONES (1582). More fully, Piae Cantiones Ecclesiasticae et Scholasticae… (etc). ‘A very rare and precious book’ (Routley), ‘full of exquisite 16th-c tunes’ (Dearmer), which came into J M Neale’s (qv) hands in 1853. It was Swedish, published in Finland and edited by Didrick Pederson, aka Theodoric Petri Rutha, and the Preface of this collection is specifically dated 23 May 1582 [?1592—ER], though many of its tunes are clearly much older. 6 or 7 of them are still in current use (in e.g. Rejoice and Sing 1991 and Common Praise 2000; The Carol Book 2005 has 5 and the New English Hymnal 1986 has 4). These include the much-used PERSONENT HODIE, IN DULCI JUBILO, etc. No.371.