Wells Cathedral Advent Carol Competition 2026
Established Text Options
For those who prefer to work with an established text, the Wells Cathedral Advent Carol Competition 2026 offers the following traditional options:
OPTION 1:
Adam lay ybounden
Anon. 15th century
Adam lay ybounden,
Bounden in a bond;
Four thousand winter
Thought he not too long.
And all was for an apple,
An apple that he took,
As clerkes finden written
In their book.
Ne had the apple taken been
The apple taken been;
Ne had never our lady
A-been heavene queen.
Blessed be the time
That apple taken was,
Therefore we moun singen
Deo gratias!
OPTION 2:
There is no rose
Anon. 15th century
There is no rose of such virtue
As is the rose that bare Jesu:
Alleluya.
For in this rose contained was
Heaven and earth in little space:
Res miranda.
By that rose we may well see
That he is God in persons three:
Pari forma.
The angels sung the shepherds to:
“Gloria in excelsis Deo”,
Gaudeamus.
Leave we all this worldly mirth,
And follow we this joyful birth:
Transeamus.
OPTION 3:
A tender shoot
Otto Goldschmidt, Trans. William Bartholomew
A tender shoot hath started
Up from a root of grace,
As ancient seers imparted,
From Jesse’s holy race,
It blooms without a blight,
Blooms in the cold bleak winter,
Turning our darkness into light.
This shoot Isaiah taught us
From Jesse’s root should spring;
The Virgin Mary brought us
The branch of which we sing;
Our God of endless might
Gave her this child to save us,
Thus turning darkness into light.