Music written for the theatre and opera or to the text of theatrical works. Conjectural attributions of songs to the lost plays are indicated by question marks in brackets: (?). Attributions to composers are indicated by an asterisk (*).
Cieszmy się miłą nadzieją (lyrics). The music may be by K. Kurpiński, but it could also be a traditional tune.Come unto these yellow sands– J. Banister (lyrics).
Curtain tune– M. Locke.
Dry those eyes– J. Banister (lyrics).
Echo song– J. Banister (lyrics).
Full fathom five– J. Banister (lyrics).
Where the bee sucks– P. Humfrey (lyrics). Alternatively, you can listen to a later setting by T. Arne from Taylor’s Traditional Tunebook.
It is decreed– S. Pepys and J. Hingston (lyrics). Catiline’s opening soliloquy, also set to music by C. Morelli.
Dear, do not your fair beauty wrong– R. Johnson (lyrics). The lyrics of this song are only read, not sung, in the published version of the play, and in a shortened form.
The Spanish Gypsy. This is likely to be the final dance of the play.
Blow, thou winter wind– T. Arne (lyrics).
It was a lover and his lass– T. Morley (lyrics, additional note). A variant of this tune can be found in Taylor’s Traditional Tunebook.
What shall he have(lyrics). This tune is usually given as a catch, but was probably not sung as such in the play. The arrangement is based on a ‘de-rearrangement’ by E. Brennecke.
Doubt thou the stars are fire– R. J. S. Stevens (lyrics).
To be, or not to be– C. Morelli (lyrics). The earliest surviving setting of this famous soliloquy, in the style of the English recitative.
A dance. From a post-Restoration revival.
Sigh no more, ladies– T. Ford (lyrics). The original source of the music set a substantially different text, which meant that the first phrase of the music had to be repeated.
Full fathom five– R. Johnson (lyrics). This is the song that got me interested in English Renaissance theatre music in the first place.
Where the bee sucks– R. Johnson (lyrics, additional note).
Come away death– J. Walker (lyrics).
She never told her love– J. Haydn (lyrics).
When that I was and a little tiny boy(lyrics). This is the original tune as
sung by Mr [J.] Vernon at Vauxhallaround 1772, but a later, simplified version is more widely known.
Get you hence– R. Johnson (lyrics).
Lawn as white as driven snow– J. Wilson (lyrics).
When daffodils begin to peer(lyrics). A 18th c. setting, first published in 1783.
Qu’on soit jalouse (lyrics). Some people claim that the melody of the Polish song Boże, coś Polskę is derived from this, but personally I do not see much resemblance.