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==Greensleeves and Henry VIII== ==Greensleeves and Henry VIII==
There is a persistent belief that Greensleeves was composed by ] for his lover and future ] ]. Anne rejected Henry's attempts to seduce her and this rejection is apparently referred to in the song, when the writer's love "cast me off discourteously." However, Henry perhaps did not compose "Greensleeves", which is probably Elizabethan in origin and is based on an Italian style of composition that did not reach England until after his death.<ref>]. ''Henry VIII: The King and His Court'', page 131, ], 2002, ISBN 0-34543-708-X</ref> There is a persistent belief that Greensleeves was composed by ] for his lover and future ] ]. Anne rejected Henry's attempts to seduce her and this rejection is apparently referred to in the song, when the writer's love "cast me off discourteously." However, Henry did not compose "Greensleeves", which is probably Elizabethan in origin and is based on an Italian style of composition that did not reach England until after his death.<ref>]. ''Henry VIII: The King and His Court'', page 131, ], 2002, ISBN 0-34543-708-X</ref>


==Lyrical interpretation== ==Lyrical interpretation==

Revision as of 18:51, 19 July 2009

"My Lady Greensleeves" as depicted in an 1864 painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

"Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song and tune, a ground of the form called a romanesca.

A broadside ballad by this name was registered at the London Stationer's Company in 1580 as "A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves". It then appears in the surviving A Handful of Pleasant Delights (1584) as "A New Courtly Sonnet of the Lady Green Sleeves. To the new tune of Green sleeves."

The tune is found in several late 16th century and early 17th century sources, such as Ballet's MS Lute Book and Het Luitboek van Thysius, as well as various manuscripts preserved in the Cambridge University libraries.

Greensleeves and Henry VIII

There is a persistent belief that Greensleeves was composed by Henry VIII for his lover and future queen consort Anne Boleyn. Anne rejected Henry's attempts to seduce her and this rejection is apparently referred to in the song, when the writer's love "cast me off discourteously." However, Henry did not compose "Greensleeves", which is probably Elizabethan in origin and is based on an Italian style of composition that did not reach England until after his death.

Lyrical interpretation

One possible interpretation of the lyrics is that Lady Green Sleeves was a promiscuous young woman and perhaps a prostitute. At the time, the word "green" had sexual connotations, most notably in the phrase "a green gown", a reference to the way that grass stains might be seen on a lady's dress if she had made love outside.

An alternative explanation is that Lady Green Sleeves was, as a result of her attire, incorrectly assumed to be immoral. Her "discourteous" rejection of the singer's advances supports the contention that she is not.

In Nevill Coghill's translation of The Canterbury Tales, he explains that "green was the colour of lightness in love. This is echoed in 'Greensleeves is my delight' and elsewhere."

Alternative lyrics

The hymn What Child Is This? by William Chatterton Dix, set to the Greensleeves tune, is used across the Western Christian church.

A variation was used extensively in the 1962 movie How the West Was Won as the song "Home in the Meadow", lyrics by Sammy Cahn, performed by Debbie Reynolds.

Early literary references

In Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, written around 1602, the character Mistress Ford refers twice without any explanation to the tune of "Greensleeves," and Falstaff later exclaims:

Let the sky rain potatoes! Let it thunder to the tune of 'Greensleeves'!

These allusions suggest that the song was already well known at that time.

In popular culture

Recordings

Television

Film


Media

"Greensleeves" is in Dorian mode, though modern musicians sometimes play it in the natural minor scale instead, as in this realization:

Greensleeves
Problems playing this file? See media help.

See also

  • "Turandot (Busoni)" Act 2 Scene 1 opens with the tune, which Busoni thought sounded Chinese.

References

  1. Weir, Alison. Henry VIII: The King and His Court, page 131, Ballantine Books, 2002, ISBN 0-34543-708-X
  2. Brown, Meg Lota & Kari Boyd McBride. Women's Roles in the Renaissance, page 101, Greenwood Press, 2005, ISBN 0-31332-210-4
  3. ^ Vance Randolph "Unprintable" Ozark Folksongs and Folklore, Volume I, Folksongs and Music, page 47, University of Arkansas Press, 1992, ISBN 1-55728-231-5
  4. Chaucer, Geoffrey (2003-02-04). The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English). trans. Nevill Coghill. The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection. ISBN 0-140-42438-5. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |origdate= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)

External links

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