John Dunstaple - Quam pulchra es (three-voice motet in conductus style) (ca. 1430)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Erato, 1987
Quam pulchra es et quam decora,
carissima in deliciis.
Statura tua assimilate est palme,
et ubera tua botris.
Caput tuum ut Carmelus,
collum tuum sicut turris eburnea.
Veni, dilecte mi, egrediamur in agrum,
et videamus si flores fructus parturierunt,
si floruerunt mala Punica.
Ibid abo tibi ubera mea.
—Song of Songs
How fair and how pleasant are you,
O love, for delights!
Your stature is like unto a palm tree,
and your breasts to clusters of grapes.
Your head is like Carmel
and your neck like a tower of ivory.
Come, by beloved, let us go forth into the field
And we will see if the tender grapes appear
And the pomegranates bud forth.
There I will give you my breasts.
