Jon Guy wrote:

> The local newspaper, circulation 385, had a note this week stating,
> "The oldest known harmonized music performed today is the English
> song,  'Sumer is Icumen In', which dates from about 1240."
>
> Does anyone know more?  I had never heard this before.


It's a 4-part round or canon (like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat").
Specialists disagree on the date of the notation, placing it between
1260 to 1310.  The attractive manuscript is in the British Museum.

The text begins .....

  Sumer is icumen in
  Lhude sing cuccu
  Groweth sed and bloweth med
  And springth the wode nu.

which in modern English comes out as

   Summer is a-coming in
   Loudly sing "Cuccu"
   Groweth seed and bloweth mead (grassy meadow)
   And springs the world a-new.

There are more verses, but the facsimile is laborious to read.

Ed Berlin