"Greensleeves"
"Greensleeves" is a renowned Elizabethan folk song, believed to have originated during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the sixteenth century. It is linked to the Italian romanesca musical form and features a melody that has evolved over the centuries, becoming a significant part of the collective cultural landscape. The song's lyrics express themes of love and longing, with "greensleeves" symbolizing an unfaithful lady-love. A notable early reference to the song was made in 1580 when Richard Jones registered a version of it, leading to numerous adaptations and variations.
Over time, "Greensleeves" has been incorporated into various musical works, including the Christmas carol "What Child is This?" and Ralph Vaughan Williams's "Fantasia on Greensleeves." The ballad's narrative style and themes of love intrigue have led to speculation about its origins and connections to historical figures, such as Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Additionally, "Greensleeves" has persisted in modern music and popular culture, appearing in adaptations across genres and even serving as a motif in contemporary productions. Its enduring presence in folk music and broader cultural contexts makes "Greensleeves" a notable example of the evolution of traditional songs.
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"Greensleeves"
The popular Elizabethan folk song “Greensleeves” is traced to an Italian song form called a romanesca. The melody began as a simple, ephemeral air of eight or sixteen bars that became rooted within the collective consciousness and evolved over the centuries. “Greensleeves” is thought to have emerged during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I during the sixteenth century. Its lyrics and tune have been embellished over the generations so that it is also recognizable as the Christmas carol called “What Child is This?” (1865), written by William Chatterton Dix, and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “Fantasia on Greensleeves” from the opera Sir John in Love (1934).
Overview
On September 3, 1580, Richard Jones registered a ballad entitled “A newe northen Dittye of ye Ladye Green Sleves” with the Stationers’ Company in London. Within weeks, multiple variations were published and added to the copyright registry. At the time the song was written, “greensleeves” within the context of the lyrics referred to an inconstant lady-love: “Green-sleeves was all my joy, Green-sleeues was my delight: Green-sleeues was my heart of gold, and who but my Ladie Green-sleeues?” None of the early variations of the tune match note for note; music was often transmitted person to person via balladmongers and tavern fiddlers, or was copied from manuscripts. Shakespeare immortalized the tunes in The Merry Wives of Windsor (1589) when he wrote: “Let it thunder to the tune of Green-sleeues.”
“Greensleeves” has remained in the folk music repertoire over the centuries. In the course of documented broadside history, “Greensleeves” was one of the most frequently named broadside ballads, numbering a total of 1,766-plus before the end of the seventeenth century. It disappeared from British country dance books during the 1730s and resurfaced with Scottish, Irish, English, and American country and folk musicians during the early twentieth century.
Musicologists have tried to trace the tune to “Greensleeves” by comparing variations and believe it to be so closely identified with the romanesca genre that the name has at times been used to accompany arrangements that do not include the tune. “Greensleeves” presents musicians and folklorists with a mystery: folklore for this kind of ballad shares some characteristics that can be interpreted in many ways: many ballad plots begin at the middle of the story (or in medias res) so that background information can be pieced together as the story progresses. While traditional folk songs do not contain narratives (but consist of a series of floating verses), ballads are considered songs that tell stories conveying common as well as epic themes with plots of adventure and comic and tragic love told in verse. “Greensleeves” is definitely in the love theme category, where intrigue and conjecture continue; some have even speculated that Henry VIII wrote the tune for his lover and future consort, Anne Boleyn. Some ballads “leap and linger,” meaning that scenes can be treated in detail and then the narrative shifts without transition, and some have incremental repetition so plot variations advance within the verse.
“Greensleeves” has appeared in modern music as well. Some popular music has contained adaptations of the song. Guitarist Jeff Beck created a modern version of “Greensleeves,” blending the traditional ballad with classic rock. “Greensleeves” has been used in various television shows and films, and its melody was used as a motif in Six (2017), a modern musical about the wives of Henry VIII. The melody can be heard on ice cream trucks in England and in the English listening exam in Hong Kong.
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