broadside ballads – Early Music Muse

Tarleton’s Resurrection. Part 4/4: Tributes to Tarleton – with a musical discovery from the 16th century

Ian Pittaway broadside ballads, clowns, fools, Hamlet (William Shakespeare play), jesters, Shakespeare William, Tarleton Richard, Tarletons jigg, Tarletons Willy, Tarlton Richard, theatre, Willie and Peggie (ballad) 10th March 20214th September 2024 10 Comments

This is the last of four articles about the life and music of Elizabethan clown, Richard Tarleton. Having examined the historical context of clowning; described his comic and serious stage roles and plays; and gathered the evidence for his pipe and tabor style and modern claims that he was a ballad writer; this final article surveys the way Tarleton was remembered posthumously, on the stage, in song, in books, in rhetoric, and in the commercial use of his famous image.

In particular, this article investigates a broadside tribute to Tarleton registered 23 days after his death, A pretie new ballad, intituled willie and peggie. This essay includes a video performance of the ballad, reuniting its words and music after 400 years.

Tarleton’s Resurrection. Part 3/4: Richard Tarleton the musician and broadside writer

Ian Pittaway broadside ballads, clowns, Dowland John, fools, Grand Old Duke of York, jesters, Kemp William, Kempe William, Kemps Jigge, medley (ballad form), Nutmegs and Ginger, Spanish Pavin, Tarleton Richard, Tarletons jigg, Tarletons Medley, Tarletons Willy, Tarlton Richard, theatre, Willie and Peggie (ballad) 3rd March 20214th September 2024 0 Comment

Elizabethan actor and comedian Richard Tarleton is remembered most for his quick-witted and clever quips, his physical comedy, and for the image of him playing pipe and tabor. Despite the fact that this famous representation shows him as a musician, Tarleton the musician has remained a neglected subject in both historical and modern accounts.

This article aims to put that right, with a description of Tarleton’s taboring; an investigation into the meaning of the surviving tune that bears his name, called both Tarletons jigg and Tarletons Willy; an understanding of his theatrical role as the creator of extempore comedy songs; and a survey of the evidence for Tarleton as a composer of ballads, particularly the comedic genre known as the medley.

This is the third of four articles about the life and music of Elizabethan clown, Richard Tarleton. The final article will examine posthumous tributes, including the performance of a 16^thcentury ballad about him, its words and music newly reunited after 400 years.

Drive the cold Winter away: the meaning of a 17th century seasonal song

Ian Pittaway baroque, broadside ballads, Christmas, Come worldling see what paines I here do take, drive the cold Winter away, Playford John, When Phoebus did rest 8th October 20183rd September 2022 0 Comment

Drive the cold Winter away is a 17^th century broadside ballad which appeals to its readers, singers and listeners to put aside differences, forget old wrongs, and to sing, dance, eat, drink and play together.

As this article outlines, there was good reason for this appeal for a Christmas truce in the 17^th century, a time of bitterly cold winters, religious division and civil war. After describing what a 17^th century Christmas feast consisted of, we explore the two distinct melodies the song was sung to and outline its long-lived popularity.

The song Shakespeare stole from: a discovery from the 16th century

Ian Pittaway broadside ballads, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare William 1st April 20177th August 2022 2 Comments

A 16^thcentury broadside ballad recently found in Glamorgan reveals that William Shakespeare stole some of his best-loved and most famous lines from a song he must have known in his youth. The broadside ballad sheet was found folded into the back leaf of a household book, circa 1574. The book itself includes no music. This article includes a video performance of the ballad and an account of the plays in which the Bard’s borrowed lines appear.

One song to the tune of another: early music common practice, 800 years before Humph

Ian Pittaway Bring us in good ale, broadside ballads, Bryng us in good ale, carolling, carols, Fortune my foe, goliards, Greensleeves, I’m sorry I haven’t a clue, Pepys Samuel, Perspice Christicola, salutacyon, Salutation, Sumer is icumen in 22nd November 20167th August 2022 2 Comments

clue4 — A classic *Clue* line-up, left to right:
Tim Brooke-Taylor, Humphrey Lyttelton,
Barry Cryer, Willie Rushton, Graeme Garden.

Listeners to BBC Radio 4’s long-running antidote to panel games, I’m sorry I haven’t a clue, will be familiar with the round, one song to the tune of another. The joke is predicated on us being used to thinking ‘These are the words and this is the tune and they belong together’. The uniting of these separated elements is made funnier by an extreme contrast of styles: the words of Girlfriend In A Coma to the tune of Tiptoe Through The Tulips; the words of A Whiter Shade of Pale to the tune of The Muppet Show; the words of Ugly Duckling to the tune of Harry Nilsson’s Without You.

The stock-in-trade of the show is satire, the programme itself being a satire of panel games. Clue has been going since 1972, chaired for nearly all of that time by late jazz trumpeter, Humphrey Lyttelton, known to cast and listeners as Humph. What Humph and the rest of the panel may not have known is that the principle of one song to the tune of another, with sometimes wildly contrasting words fitted to the same tune, was widely used in early music, the earliest evidence for which stretches back 800 years before even Humph was on air. This article, with illustrative music videos, traces the history of the practice from 16^th and 17^th century broadside ballads back to medieval carols, to songs with both secular and religious sets of words, and to the iconoclastic musical comedy of the goliards.

The trees they do grow high: a ballad of medieval arranged marriage?

Ian Pittaway broadside ballads, Burns Robert, Carthy Martin, early music, Fletcher John, folk music, harp, Herd David, Johnson James, Lady Mary Ann, Lloyd A. L., Maidment James, mediaeval, medieval, medieval harp, myths, North Countrie Garland, Scots Musical Museum, Shakespeare William, traditional music, Trees they do grow high, Two Noble Kinsmen, Young Laird of Craigstoun 13th February 201625th June 2024 6 Comments

The trees they do grow high is a traditional ballad about an arranged child marriage, also known as The trees they grow so high, My bonny lad is young but he’s growing, Long a-Growing, Daily Growing, Still Growing, The Bonny Boy, The Young Laird of Craigstoun, and Lady Mary Ann. The song was very popular in the oral tradition in Scotland, England, Ireland, and the USA from the 18^th to the 20^th century. Questions about its true age (medieval?), the basis of its story (describing an actual marriage?) and its original author (Robert Burns?) have attracted conjectural claims. This article investigates the shifting narrative of the story over its lifetime and sifts the repeated assertions from the substantiated evidence.

Baroque music: a brief tour of the extravagant last period of early music

Ian Pittaway Bach Johann Sebastian, baroque, broadside ballads, catch clubs, dance, Lully Jean-Baptiste, Monteverdi Claudio, Playford John 16th July 201518th October 2024 2 Comments

Robert Tournières, *Concert*, France, 1690s, showing
a baroque cello, virginal, singer, violin, and French baroque lute.

The baroque period was a time of ornate decoration, extravagance and the rise of ever larger ensembles, giving rise to opera and the early orchestra. Dance music was as popular as ever, with the renaissance galliard giving way to the baroque sarabande, chaconne, and bourée. Public dancing was briefly in trouble, banned by the Puritans, during which John Playford started a remarkable series of English dance instruction books which outlived Puritan censoriousness. Singing styles among the cultural elite were florid and declamatory, while broadside ballads for the masses continued to be sung and sold in the streets. And, in private, John Playford and his companions met to sing about farting.

Baroque is the final period of early music (medieval, renaissance, baroque) and this is the last of 3 articles charting them. This article includes 15 illustrative videos for the music of Robert Johnson, John Blow, Tobias Hume, Thomas Arne, John Playford, Claudio Monteverdi, Jean-Baptiste Lully, and Johann Sebastian Bach (click blue links).

Music of the renaissance: a whistle-stop tour

Ian Pittaway baroque, broadside ballads, dance, Dowland John, Dunstaple John, early instruments, early music, lute, mediaeval, medieval, renaissance, renaissance dance 15th July 201525th July 2022 0 Comment

The renaissance marked a turning point for European culture. Beginning in Italy in the 14^th century, its influence spread across Europe, affecting all aspects of culture, including music. But it was in England that the sound of the renaissance first developed, spreading out to Burgundy, Italy, and then back to England in new forms. The invention of the printing press and the spread of literacy profoundly affected music-making, with musicians in households now able to write down music, use the new printed songbooks of composers such as John Dowland, and sing from broadside ballad sheets sold in the street. The spread of printing and literacy also affects our own knowledge of the period, with surviving instructions for dances and a wealth of music. Includes 15 active links in blue to videos of musical examples, illustrating the text.

Greensleeves: Mythology, History and Music. Part 3 of 3: Music

Ian Pittaway baroque, broadside ballads, early music, Greensleeves, lute, lute manuscripts and books, morris dance, passamezzo antico, Playford John, renaissance, romanesca 8th July 201515th December 2024 8 Comments

The remarkable longevity of a 16^th century song and tune

Left to right: Adrien le Roy, French lutenist, one composer of passamezzo antico; William Kimber, English morris dancer and concertina player, one player of Bacca Pipes; Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer of Fantasia on Greensleeves; John Coltrane, jazz saxophonist, and Nomansland, trance dance band, both performers of Greensleeves. — **Left to right:** Adrien le Roy, French lutenist, one composer of a *passamezzo antico*;
William Kimber, English morris dancer and concertina player, one player of *Bacca Pipes*;
Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer of *Fantasia on Greensleeves*;
John Coltrane, jazz saxophonist, and Nomansland, trance dance band, performers of *Greensleeves*.

Greensleeves has captured the imagination of musicians for well over four centuries, testified by innumerous versions. This, the third of three articles about the mythology, history and music of Greensleeves, gives an audio flavour of the remarkable versatility and vitality of the melody and song, an à la carte menu to choose from. We begin with versions of the passamezzo antico and romanesca which are the foundation of Greensleeves; then advance to the song on period instruments; the Playford dance; two Greensleeves morris dances; the Greensleeves melody as a Christmas song; Ralph Vaughan Williams’ classical version; then a range of more modern interpretations: folk, blues, bluegrass, country, pop, rock, punk, black metal, jazz, flamenco, disco, trance, dubstep, Vietnamese ballet … and the ice cream van tune.

Greensleeves: Mythology, History and Music. Part 2 of 3: History

Ian Pittaway baroque, broadside ballads, early music, Greensleeves, lute, lute manuscripts and books, Merry Wives of Windsor, morris dance, passamezzo antico, Playford John, renaissance, romanesca, Shakespeare William, Sumer is icumen in 6th July 201515th December 2024 7 Comments

The remarkable longevity of a 16^th century song and tune

Greensleeves is well over four centuries old and is, even now, still going strong. This is a song first published in 1580, its tune used for a wide variety of other 16^th and 17^th century broadside ballads; used as the basis for virtuoso lute playing; that William Shakespeare used for a sophisticated joke; a tune that John Playford published for dancing to; that morris dancers still jig and kick bottoms to; that has become a Christmas favourite; and that pop singers continue to sing. This is the second of three articles, looking at the song’s mythology, its true history, and video examples of its musical transformations.

One of the first sources for the tune, in lute tablature as greene sleues in MS. 408/2, an anonymous amateur anthology dated c. 1592–1603. — One of the first sources for the tune, in lute tablature as *greene sleues* in MS. 408/2, an anonymous amateur anthology dated c. 1592–1603. (As with all images, click for higher resolution.)

Greensleeves: Mythology, History and Music. Part 1 of 3: Mythology

Ian Pittaway Boleyn Anne, broadside ballads, Chappell William, Dowland John, early music, Flood William H. G., Greensleeves, Henry V (play), Henry VIII, lute, lute manuscripts and books, Merry Wives of Windsor, myths, Poulton Diana, renaissance, Shakespeare William, Tudors (TV series), Twelfth Night 3rd July 201521st December 2024 23 Comments

The remarkable longevity of a 16^th century song and tune

Greensleeves, composed anonymously in 1580, is a song which has been a magnet for fanciful claims. This article examines the claims that Henry VIII wrote it for Anne Boleyn; that Lady Greensleeves was a loose woman or a prostitute; and that the song has Irish origins. This is the first of three articles, looking at the song’s mythology; its true history; and video examples of its musical transformations.