Tales of Long Ago – Three Traditional Folk Tunes

Description

These three folk tunes are woven together here in celebration of distinctive women from myth and legend.

Two of the melodies are well-known English country dances – ‘Goddesses’ appeared in the first edition of John Playford’s English Dancing Master in 1651, and ‘The Princess’ (a jig tune) in the eleventh edition, in 1701. The song ‘The Trees they do Grow High’ is a traditional Scottish song with a tragic narrative: a young woman is married to a boy far younger than herself, only to lose him too soon, in battle. A version of the song is found in a collection by David Herd from 1770, which was the basis of Robert Burns’s later poem, Lady Mary Ann.

Video performance

This arrangement was originally written for the recorder ensemble Fontanella, as heard on the group’s You Tube Channel