A collection of specially-chosen Traditional Pieces from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland in unique arrangements for piano solo.
1.
Greensleeves
"Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song and tune. There is a persistent belief that it was composed by Henry VIII for his lover and future queen consort Anne Boleyn. Boleyn allegedly rejected King Henry's attempts to seduce her and this rejection may be referred to in the song when the writer's love "cast me off discourteously". However, the piece is based on an Italian style of composition (a romanesca or of its slight variant, the passamezzo antico) that did not reach England until after Henry's death, making it more likely to be Elizabethan in origin.
"Danny Boy" is a popular ballad written by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly and usually set to the Irish tune of the "Londonderry Air". It is most closely associated with Irish communities even though Weatherly himself never set foot in Ireland. The words convey the melancholy of parting:
Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling From glen to glen, and down the mountain side. The summer's gone, and all the roses falling, It's you, it's you must go and I must bide.
This version of the popular English ballad Scarborough Fair apparently originated in the 19th Century, but was made famous by Simon & Garkunkel in the 1960s.
The origin of the song is unknown, though it is often suggested that the subject of the song may be Charles Edward Stuart ('Bonnie Prince Charlie') after the defeat of the Prince at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and his subsequent exile, his Jacobite supporters could have sung the tune in his honour; and thanks to the ambiguity of the term "bonnie", which can refer to a woman as well as to a man, they could pretend it was a love song.
"Men of Harlech" or "The March of the Men of Harlech" (in Welsh: Rhyfelgyrch Gwŷr Harlech) is a song and military march which is traditionally said to describe events during the seven-year siege of Harlech Castle between 1461 and 1468. Commanded by Constable Dafydd ap Ieuan, the garrison held out in what is the longest known siege in the history of the British Isles. “Through Seven Years” is an alternative name for the song.
"Molly Malone" (also known as "Cockles and Mussels" or "In Dublin's Fair City") is a popular song, set in Dublin, Ireland, which has become the unofficial anthem of Dublin City.The Molly Malone statue in Grafton Street was unveiled by then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alderman Ben Briscoe during the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations, declaring 13 June as Molly Malone Day.
