the Willow Song
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- Опубліковано 24 гру 2024
- From Mignarda's 2007 release, "My Lord of Oxenford's Maske". MP3s available from iTunes, Naxos' ClassicsOnline; CDs available from Amazon, CD Baby, and Mignarda.com. A performance edition of the music can be found in Shakespeare's Lute Book, available from Mignarda Editions at Mignarda.com.
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The Willow Song, as quoted in Shakespeare's "Othello", is famous as Desdemona's lament. The willow, a symbol of forsaken love, was part of the imagery associated with Elizabethan melancholy, and the text to the song even describes in detail the typical posture of a melancholy lover.
Mignarda's performance is based on the version found in the British Library (additional manuscript 15117), and is unique in that the triple-time rhythm is gently pulsed and insistently regular, rather than the free-form rhythmic interpretation typical to performances of this song.
More about the song on our blog, Unquiet Thoughts:
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Text from British Library additional manuscript 15117:
The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,
Sing willow, willow, willow;
With his hand in his bosom and his head upon his knee,
O willow, willow, willow, willow;
O willow, willow, willow, willow
Shall be my garland.
Sing all a green willow;
Willow, willow willow,
Ay me, the green willow
Must be my garland.
He sighed in his singing, and made a great moan,
Sing willow, willow, willow;
I am dead to all pleasure, my true love she is gone,
O willow, willow, willow, willow;
O willow, willow, willow, willow
Shall be my garland.
The fresh streams ran by him and murmured his moans,
Sing willow, willow, willow;
His salt tears fell from him, and softened the stones,
O willow, willow, willow, willow;
O willow, willow, willow, willow
Shall be my garland.
Come all you forsaken and mourn you with me,
Sing willow, willow, willow;
Who speaks of a false love, mine’s falser yet than she,
O willow, willow, willow, willow;
O willow, willow, willow, willow
Shall be my garland.
Let love no more boast in her palace nor bower,
Sing willow, willow, willow;
It buds, but it blasteth ere it be a flower,
O willow, willow, willow, willow;
O willow, willow, willow, willow
Shall be my garland.
Though fair and more false, I die with thy wound,
Sing willow, willow, willow;
Thou hast lost the truest lover that goes upon the ground,
O willow, willow, willow, willow;
O willow, willow, willow, willow
Shall be my garland.
Let nobody chide her, her scorns I approve,
Sing willow, willow, willow;
She was born to be false, and I to die for her love,
O willow, willow, willow, willow;
O willow, willow, willow, willow
Shall be my garland.
Take this for my farewell and latest adieu,
Sing willow, willow, willow;
Write this on my tomb, that in love I was true,
O willow, willow, willow, willow;
O willow, willow, willow, willow
Shall be my garland.
While we perform the song from the original version with its pragmatic spelling, the modernized text above is modified from that found in F. W. Sternfeld, Music in Shakespearean Tragedy, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1963, pp. 32-33.
My name has never sounded so beautiful in a song like this before! Love it!
Our name! Hahahahaha
Superbe interprétation d'une superbe chanson. Merci beaucoup à vous !
new favourite song
One of my favorite lute songs
Absolument magnifique !
And I still love this song
Is it Donna's real natural voice. So beautiful
Yes, it is Donna's real natural voice combined with an understanding of the text and the inherent pulse of the music that makes this performance convincing. We have set a standard of interpretation in early music that concentrates on the music so the listener can appreciate the voice, rather than the other way round.
Absolutely brilliant - beautiful voice and interpretation
Thanks for the kind words, Jenny. We were just enjoying your 'Willow, weep for me', and felt the same way about you.
all the best,
Ron & Donna
This was my solo for choir, i actually got a medal for singing it so well, amd by well i mean hitting all the notes lol 8th grade was cool
So beautiful. I want to complement the singer on making it sound more folky than classical…nothing against classical of course, but I think the folky sound works great for this song.
Thank you for your kind words. As for the singing, we specialize in interpretations using a natural voice rather than imparting an entirely unhistorical modern "classical" voice type. The voice may sound "folky" to your ears and that's entirely fine because folk music is meant to cause the listener to feel something rather than dazzle with operatic technique. But it is a well-established fact that intimate music from the 16th century was originally sung in a natural voice, and we're simply being historically-accurate in our performance. We've written quite a bit about singing with a natural voice on our blog Unquiet Thoughts. mignarda.wordpress.com/
Willlow Song in folk style, and 'mediaeval' in form? Try the opening track on the eponymously titled album by Breton band Folkdove (sung in English), released in 1975 on the Disques Iris label. You won't find it though - only 500 copies pressed, apparently! Something of a celtic folk holy grail. However it has been re-released on CD and vinyl in Germany and more recently on CD in South Korea. I discovered the music years ago right here on UA-cam.
meraviglioso!
This is one of the best !
No, I'm wrong, this ís thé best version.
와~~~~대박^◇^
This is a beautiful song with an amazing melody and lyrical combination. It has become part of my heartbreak playlist and is my number one favorite song to listen to on said playlist. Could I possibly trouble you to add the lyrics to this page so that I might learn its composition to sing to my wee one at bedtime as one of his lullabies? Thank you ever so much. I look forward to listening to more of your duets in the future.
We have added the complete text of the song in the notes above. Just click "Show more."
England