Greensleeves
Greensleeves ( English for "green sleeves", meaning "green dress") is an English song whose melody has been one of the most popular in history since the Elizabethan era . It is based on the basic musical form of the Romanesca . The exact addressee of the underlying folk song is unknown; originally it must have been dedicated to a girl or a woman in a green dress.
text
Greensleeves' traditional verses are about the lamentation of a lover. There are many variations of the text, which often only differ in the density of the syllables. The first printed version begins as follows:
Alas my loue, ye do me wrong,
to cast me off discourteously:
And I haue loued you so long
Delighting in your company.
Greensleeues was all my ioy,
Greensleeues was my delight:
Greensleeues was my heart of gold,
And who but Ladie Greensleeues.
Oh dear, my dear, you are doing me an injustice to
roughly push me away in a quarrel
so long I have been faithful to you
full of happiness by your side.
Greensleeves was all my joy.
Greensleeves was my delight.
Greensleeves was my golden heart.
And who but Lady Greensleeves?
The fact that the letter u is used instead of the letter v in the original English version is not a mistake, but is due to the fact that the alphabet of the Tudor period only had 24 letters and that the sounds u and v were both written as u (the same applied to i and j ).
Another well-known German version of the text comes from the playwright Peter Hacks .
history
A much-cited legend claims that the song was composed by King Henry VIII (1491–1547) for his second wife Anne Boleyn . Heinrich is out of the question as a composer, however, since the song is composed in an Italian style that only spread in England after his death.
It probably circulated, like most popular music of its time, in the form of handwritten sheets long before it appeared in print. In 1580 it was listed by the London Stationer's Company under the title A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves by Richard Jones. No known copy of this print has survived. In the surviving collection A Handful of Pleasant Delights from 1584, the piece is under the title A New Courtly Sonnet of the Lady Green Sleeves. To the new tune of Green Sleeves (A new courtly sonnet about Lady Greensleeves. To the new tune of Green Sleeves ) included.
In Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor , composed around 1602, the role of Mistress Ford is referred to the melody of Greensleeves twice without explanation. The most famous quote also comes from the above piece, namely Falstaff's reputation:
“Let the sky rain potatoes! Let it thunder to the tune of Greensleeves! "
“Shall the sky rain potatoes! Let it thunder to the tune of Greensleeves! "
All of these quotes suggest that the song was very popular at the time.
The melody of the song appeared as an instrumental arrangement in the Lute Book by William Ballet at the end of the 16th century and as a lute duet in the Lute Book by John Dowland . Versions of Francis Cutting and the Lute Book of the William Ballet (16th century) are also available.
Reception and variations
Greensleeves has produced a large number of receptions and variations .
In Ferruccio Busoni's opera Turandot (premiered in 1917), a female choir sings Greensleeves' melody after solving the riddles at the beginning of Act 2 .
Most of the vocal interpretations of the piece go back to the British composers Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) and Ralph Greaves . The Italian orchestra leader Mantovani had such a great success with his recording of the title that he enthusiastically named his residence after the title.
- Vaughan Williams' opera Sir John in Love (1935) features a fantasy about Greensleeves that Greaves adapted.
- In John Gays and Johann Christoph Pepusch's The Beggar's Opera of 1728, Greensleeves is included in the song Tyburn Tree , which Macheath sings under the gallows.
- The English Christmas carol What Child is This? by William Chatterton Dix (1837–1865) follows the tune of Greensleeves . There is a version of the Moody Blues and Joan Baez . Under the title Bébé Dieu , the song found its way into the French language. There is a German version by Jochen Rieger entitled Wer ist das Kind .
- From The Brothers Four in 1962 a vocal version appeared Lady Greensleeves .
- The melody is used with a different text ( Home in the Meadow ) as the theme in the Cinerama film " That Was the Wild West " ( How the West was won , 1962). Also in the cartoon series Charlie Brown ( A Charlie Brown Christmas ), the television series Jericho - The attack and under the direction of Miklós Rózsa , Laurie Johnson , John Williams , Peter Thomas or Ennio Morricone there are recordings of the title with use in films.
- Drafi Deutscher published a German version of his first album in 1965. The title of this version was: Because we were both children then .
- There is a beat version of the Lords released on March 19, 1966.
- Vicky Leandros sang the melody in 1966 with new lyrics under the title Young Love on her first album Songs and Folklore .
- Elvis Presley adopted the tune for Stay Away in 1968 from the soundtrack to his film Stay Away, Joe .
- Jeff Beck released an instrumental version (acoustic guitar) on the Truth album in 1968 .
- In 1969 Siegfried Behrend published a version for guitar solo on record and in sheet music.
- John Coltrane recorded a jazz version of the piece for the Africa / Brass album , Oscar Peterson for the Another Day album .
- The Montanara Choir interpreted the song in 1970 in their album I pray to the power of love .
- Manfred Krug sang a jazz-oriented version on his album Greens .
- Waldo de los Rios album Concierto para Guitarra Criolla 1974.
- Leonard Cohen released a version of the piece entitled Leaving Green Sleeves on his 1974 album New Skin for the Old Ceremony .
- There is a version of The Band .
- Jethro Tull also recorded the song.
- Marianne Faithfull released her version on the B-side of her debut single As Tears Go By in 1964 .
- George Martin used the melody in 1967 in the final part of the Beatles single All You Need Is Love, which he designed .
- A punk rock version appeared on the slime album Yankees in 1982 .
- Loreena McKennitt released a version of Greensleeves on her 1991 album The Visit .
- Roy Black sang the piece on the 1970 album In the Land of Songs .
- Freddy Quinn sang the piece in German with the title Time knows no return on the 1973 album Everywhere it's beautiful .
- Hildegard Knef and Bernd Stelter paraphrased the song with their own text.
- There is a hard rock version of the band Rainbow . The song Sixteenth Century Greensleeves has its own lyrics by Ritchie Blackmore and appeared on the debut album in 1975. Years later, Ritchie Blackmore added this song to the repertoire of his band Blackmore's Night, which still exists today .
- Richard Anthony sang a French version in 1962 under the title "Loin" (far away).
- In 2010 Sergio Drabkin, arranger of the Rastrelli Cello Quartet , composed variations on the theme of Greensleeves for Joel Blido, violoncello, and Louise Engel, violoncello. The variations are in different styles (classical, jazz, rock etc.)
- Nolwenn Leroy released a version of Greensleeves on her album Bretonne in 2010 .
- The Cologne music group Höhner sang a German-language version with the title Peace, Frieden, Shalom, Salam on the 2010 album Christmas - The Second .
- In the soundtrack of the console game Final Fantasy 10 is a version under the name 'Hopeless Desire'.
- A version of Greensleeves can be found in the soundtrack of the PC game Anno 1602 .
- The groups The Scorpions , The Lords and The Marks played the title in the 1960s in the style of garage rock .
- Canadian musician Neil Young played Greensleeves Live at the Bottom Line in New York in 1974 ; there is a bootleg from this concert evening.
- A variant was used in the anime The Anthem of the Heart .
- The soundtrack of the TV series Sons of Anarchy features a version of Greensleeves sung by Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers
- An acapella version of the song was performed by Pentatonix on the album Christmas is Here! released.
Others
The main belt asteroid (19631) Greensleeves was named after the song.
Web links
- Sheet music for Greensleeves from the Mutopia project
- Greensleeves at Allmusic (English)
- Sound carriers containing the title Greensleeves as film music
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lady Greensleeves. Why one wrote "Greensleeues" and not "Greensleeves" in the Tudor era (English); accessed June 13, 2008
- ↑ Peter Hacks : Greensleeves. Performers: Manfred Krug / Günther Fischer-Quintett. Vinyl record, label AMIGA, German Democratic Republic 1975.
- ^ Alison Weit: Henry VIII: The King and His Court. Ballantine Books, 2002, ISBN 0-345-43708-X , p. 131.
- ↑ Frederick Noad: The Renaissance Guitar. (= The Frederick Noad Guitar Anthology. Part 1) Ariel Publications, New York 1974; Reprint: Amsco Publications, New York / London / Sydney, UK ISBN 0-7119-0958-X , US ISBN 0-8256-9950-9 , p. 76 f.
- ↑ Heinz Teuchert (ed.): Masters of the Renaissance (= My first guitar pieces. Book 3). G. Ricordi & Co. Bühnen- und Musikverlag, Munich 1971 (= Ricordi. Sy. 2201), ISBN 978-3-931788-33-9 , p. 3.
- ↑ Columbia record C 50588.
- ^ Siegfried Behrend: Greensleeves. Fantasy on an English folk song from the time of King Elizabeth I (= guitar library. Ed. By Siegfried Behrend, Series I: Old Music for solo guitar. No. 71). Bote & Bock, Berlin / Wiesbaden 1969 (= B & B. 22269).
- ↑ Ron Wynn: Greensleeves at Allmusic (English). Retrieved October 15, 2019 ..
- ↑ Anno 1602 Soundtrack - Greensleeves on Youtube; accessed January 31, 2016.
- ^ The Scorpions - Greensleeves (1965) on YouTube; accessed February 17, 2016.
- ↑ The Lords - Greensleeves on YouTube; accessed February 17, 2016.
- ^ The Marks - Greensleeves (Dutch beat / garage 1966) on YouTube; accessed February 17, 2016.
- ↑ Kokoro ga sakebitagatterunda (2015) - Soundtrack in the Internet Movie Database (English). Retrieved October 15, 2019.
- ↑ Sofia Ntouska: Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers - Greensleeves (Sons Of Anarchy S07E07). October 22, 2014, accessed April 28, 2019 .