Title: "Es tonen die Lieder"
Composer: German folk song
Listening link: Es tonen die Lieder - YouTube
Translation:
The above is a singable English translation. This is a more accurate translation:
The songs sound
spring is coming again
the shepherd is playing
on his shawm
Background info: There is little information about this German folk song. The lyrics about a shepherd playing his shawm indicate that this song may have originated during the 17th century, before the emergence of the oboe. Artwork including "The Piper (Shepherd Scene with Shawm Player)" by Jan Baptist Wolfaerts, dated 1646, gives further evidence to the possibility of this time frame.
Sources:
notation, translation: Beth's Notes
background info:
Haynes, B. (2000). "Sweeter than hautbois". Towards a conception of the schalmey of the Baroque period. Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, 26, 57-82.
Wolfaerts, J.B. (1646). The Piper (Shepherd Scene with Shawm Player). The Rijks Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.