HENRY VIII A widespread belief exists that the song Greensleeves was composed by none other than King Henry VIII following an early rejection of his love by his future wife Anne Boleyn. Undoubtedly Henry was an accomplished composer and musician and the lyrics of this song of unrequited love have been seen to relate to Henrys early courtship of Anne in 1526, when his love, it seems, was not returned. In 1528, Henry wrote to Anne: having been for more than a year now struck by the dart of love, and being uncertain either of failure or of finding a place in your heart and affection Many of the verses of Greensleeves imply a rich and extravagant courtship by the man: I bought thee petticoats of the best, The cloth so fine as it might be; I gave thee jewels for thy chest So the idea of a royal composer for this song has some credibility. Henry VIII played the lute, organ, and virginals. But obsequious flattery did cause officials to attribute to him many compositions which were not his, and the consensus of opinion today is that Greensleeves was composed rather later on in Tudor times, during the reign of Anne Boleyns daughter, Queen Elizabeth I. Not only is the song not recorded in manuscripts from Henrys reign, but also the melody is deemed to have a style which betrays an Italian influence which only reached England after his death. A following video recording uploaded by Luthval allows us to hear a variation of the song Greensleeves which is not the familiar version, but it is a version from the Thysius manuscript mentioned opposite, and it is performed on the traditional lute - probably the original sound intended for the song. ORIGINS OF THE SONG IN TUDOR TIMES The first clear reference to the ballad known as Greensleeves dates to the month of September in the year 1580 - a clear reference, but nonetheless a confusing attribution of the songs composition. There were no less than four registrations of the ballad made that month including two on the same day, the 3rd September. The printer Richard Jones registered at the London Stationers Company the melody and the lyrics of a song described as A new Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves. Almost simultaneously, rival printer Edward White published A ballad, being the Ladie Greene Sleeves Answere to Donkyn his frende. Then on 15th September another version was published and Edward White released yet another on the 18th. Needless to say the rights to the song were in hot dispute. Richard Jones published again on 14th December. Two more versions followed in 1581. It was in 1584 that Jones printed his final version of the melody and this is the one we know today. It was titled A New Courtly Sonnet of the Lady Green Sleeves , and included in a collection of songs called A Handful of Pleasant Delights. It was not long before the song was appearing in a variety of publications including William Ballets Lute Book and Het Luitboek van Thysius - a book of lute music written by Adriaen Smout of the Netherlands in 1595. Other manuscripts are to be found in the libraries at Cambridge University. By 1602, it seems the song was already sufficiently widely known for it to be incorporated into the script of Shakespeares plays. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff implores Let the sky rain potatoes! Let it thunder to the tune of Greensleeves! and the character Mistress Ford also twice makes reference to the tune.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 14:23:13 +0000
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