All of green willow
This is probably the tune to which Desdemona’s song (lyrics) was sung in W. Shakespeare’s Othello. Compared to the other plausible alternative, it fits better with the four-line verses interspersed with four lines of refrain in the play’s song, and its one-line chorus (in the latter tune, the verses are twice as short and the chorus five times as long, not counting repetitions).
There existed another version of the tune (lyrics) arranged as a part song, but only two parts survive; this is the most complete version I can provide. The text may be the ballad An old lover’s complaint
, registered in 1579 and otherwise unknown.
There were many willow songs (or poems) written in the early modern period – most of which do not really fit any of the ‘willow’ tunes on this website – apart from those already featured elsewhere, including:
A ballad of the green willowby J. Heywood.
The complaint of a lover forsaken of his love(or
A lover’s complaint being forsaken of his love) from the broadsides.
A lover, approving his lady unkind, is forced unwilling to utter his mindfrom A Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions.
HanskenThe lyrics are a back-translation of a Low German version of the song (lyrics).
Triple metre variants of the tune were also known in the Netherlands, such as the Courant van Hansken
from the Thysius lute book.
I cannot come every day to woo
The following songs on this website contain the above line in their lyrics and are thematically similar:
I have a mare, they call her Brock
Joan, quoth John
Quoth John to Joan
A wooing song of a yeoman of Kent’s son
It was a lover and his lass
The original lute accompaniment to this song is unidiomatic and difficult to play. Perhaps this is because it is a reduction of an original part song or, more likely, a consort song.
La mantovanaThe following pieces based on La mantovana
are included in the collection on this website:
Carul cu boiCucuruz cu frunza-n susHatikṿah (national anthem of Israel)My mistress is pretty
Szara piechota (second strain)VltavaThe ploughboy
The earliest known words of this song appeared in print in 1778 under the title The plowman’s glory
in the collection of four … new songs
. In the Edwardian era they were somehow considered not suitable for publication
, even though they are relatively tame.
The second of the Lords(unidentified masque)
The melody of this dance was later used to sing the ballad Now the spring is come
(lyrics).
The variant of the tune presented here is based on the version in Elizabeth Rogers’ virginal book. Other versions, differing mainly in the second strain, can be found in the MS of masque music in the British Library and in the Margaret Board lute book.
Tak’ your auld cloak about yeThis tune did not appear in print until the 18th century, but the song was already known in the early 17th century, as W. Shakespeare included a verse of it in Othello. For once, he recognised the incongruity of non-British characters singing British songs: Iago admits that he had learned it in England.
The vicar of Bray
Until the late 18th century, the song was sung to the tune of Bessy Bell and Mary Gray
. The words have a clear antecedent in the ballad The religious turncoat
(lyrics) to the tune of Watton Town’s end
– indeed, in one source of The vicar of Bray
, the tune direction is The turncoat
.
The earliest source for the tune Country garden
(sometimes known as Country gardens
) is the ballad opera The Quaker’s Opera (1728), where it is used to set Air XX (lyrics). Another early 18th century version appears in The Compleat Tutor for ye Flute (c.1735).
Only fragments of the original lyrics to Country garden
have survived.
Where the bee sucks
Miles Smith, secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote additional verses to this song between 1660 and 1671 (given here along with the original).