Adam lay ybounden

"[6] The third verse suggests the subsequent redemption of man by the birth of Jesus Christ by Mary, who was to become the Queen of Heaven as a result,[7] and thus the song concludes on a positive note hinting at Thomas Aquinas' concept of the "felix culpa" (blessed fault).

"[6] Adam lay i-bowndyn, Fowre thowsand wynter Adam lay ybounden, Four thousand winter And al was for an appil, As clerkes fyndyn wretyn And all was for an apple, As clerkës finden written Ne hadde the appil take ben, Ne hadde never our lady Nor had one apple taken been, Then had never Our Lady, Blyssid be the tyme Therfore we mown syngyn Blessed be the time Therefore we may singen The text was originally meant to be a song text, although no music survives.

However, there are many notable modern choral settings of the text, with diverse interpretations by composers such as Peter Warlock,[11] John Ireland,[12] Boris Ord,[13] Philip Ledger,[14] Howard Skempton[15] and Benjamin Britten (titled Deo Gracias in his Ceremony of Carols).

[16] A new setting by Giles Swayne was commissioned for and first performed in 2009 by the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge and their annual broadcast of the Advent carol service on BBC Radio 3.

[17] The Connecticut composer Robert Edward Smith wrote a setting of the text that was premiered in December 2018 in Hartford at Trinity College's annual Lessons and Carols.