Con il suo ensemble, The Broadside Band, Jeremy Barlow ha lavorato a lungo e proficuamente sulle musiche utilizzate da Johann Christoph Pepusch nell’Opera del mendicante (The Beggar’s Opera, 1728) di John Gay: la quale è l’unica ballad opera di cui si parli ancora ai nostri giorni, grazie anche al rifacimento brechtiano del 1928, Die Dreigroschenoper, che adotta però musiche originali composte da Kurt Weill. Per l’Opera del mendicante invece, com’è noto, Pepusch adattò i testi di Gay a melodie che all’epoca avevano una certa notorietà , prendendole a prestito da broadside ballads, arie d’opera, inni religiosi e canti di tradizione popolare.
Oltre a produrre un’edizione completa del lavoro di Gay e Pepusch, Barlow e la sua band hanno inciso (per Harmonia Mundi, 1982) anche un’antologia degli airs più famosi (in tutto nove brani), di ciascuno dei quali proponendo non solo la versione dell’Opera del mendicante ma anche la composizione originale e eventuali altre sue trasformazioni, varianti e parodie.
L’ultima sezione dell’antologia, che qui sottopongo alla vostra attenzione, è dedicato a Greensleeves. Comprende, nell’ordine:
una improvvisazione sul passamezzo antico, eseguita al liuto da George Weigand
Greensleeves, la più antica versione nota della melodia (dal William Ballet’s Lute Book, c1590-1603) con la più antica versione nota del testo (da A Handful of Pleasant Delights, 1584), cantata da Paul Elliott accompagnato al liuto da Weigand [1:13]
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,
To cast me off discourteously.
And I have loved you so long,
Delighting in your company.
Greensleeves was all my joy,
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves was my heart of gold,
And who but my Lady Greensleeves.
I have been ready at your hand,
To grant whatever you wouldst crave,
I have both waged life and land,
Your love and goodwill for to have.
Well I will pray to God on high
That thou my constancy mayst see,
And that yet once before I die,
Thou wilt vouchsafe to love me.
Greensleeves, now farewell, adieu,
God I pray to prosper thee,
For I am still thy lover true,
Come once again and love me.
Greensleeves, la versione più diffusa all’inizio del Seicento, secondo William Cobbold (1560 - 1639) e altri autori, con improvvisazioni eseguite da Weigand alla chitarra barocca e da Rosemary Thorndycraft al bass viol [4:07]
la versione dell’Opera del mendicanteche già conosciamo, interpretata ancora da Elliott a solo [5:27]
un misto di tre jigs irlandesi eseguito da Barlow al flauto e da Alastair McLachlan al violino [6:03]:
– A Basket of Oysters (da Moore’s Irish Melodies, 1834)
– A Basket of Oysters or Paddythe Weaver (Aird’s selection, 1788)
– Greensleeves (versione raccolta a Limerick nel 1852)
With his ensemble, The Broadside Band, Jeremy Barlow worked extensively and profitably on the music used by Johann Christoph Pepusch in John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728): it is the only ballad opera still being talked about in our days, thanks also to Bertolt Brecht’s 1928 remake, Die Dreigroschenoper, which however has original music composed by Kurt Weill. It is not the same for The Beggar’s Opera: Gay’s lyrics were in fact adapted by Pepusch to melodies that at the time already had a certain notoriety, borrowing them from broadside ballads, opera arias, religious hymns and folk songs.
Barlow and his band have recorded a complete edition of Gay and Pepusch’s work, as well as an anthology of its most famous airs (nine pieces in all), of each of which they presented not only The Beggar’s Opera version, but also the original composition and some of its variants and parodies.
The last track of the anthology, the one I submit to your attention here, is dedicated to Greensleeves. It includes, in order:
Greensleeves, earliest version of melody (from William Ballet’s Lute Book, c1590-1603) with earliest surviving words (A Handful of Pleasant Delights, 1584), sung by Paul Elliott accompanied on lute by Weigand [1:13]
Alas, my love, you do me wrong,
To cast me off discourteously.
And I have loved you so long,
Delighting in your company.
Greensleeves was all my joy,
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves was my heart of gold,
And who but my Lady Greensleeves.
I have been ready at your hand,
To grant whatever you wouldst crave,
I have both waged life and land,
Your love and goodwill for to have.
Well I will pray to God on high
That thou my constancy mayst see,
And that yet once before I die,
Thou wilt vouchsafe to love me.
Greensleeves, now farewell, adieu,
God I pray to prosper thee,
For I am still thy lover true,
Come once again and love me.
Greensleeves, the most widespread version at the beginning of the seventeenth century, according to William Cobbold (1560 - 1639) and other authors, with improvisations performed by Weigand on baroque guitar and by Rosemary Thorndycraft on bass viol [4:07]
The Beggar’s Opera version (we already know it) sung by Elliott a solo [5:27]
a medley of three Irish jigs performed by Barlow on flute and Alastair McLachlan on violin [6:03]:
– A Basket of Oysters (da Moore’s Irish Melodies, 1834)
– A Basket of Oysters or Paddythe Weaver (Aird’s selection, 1788)
– Greensleeves (collected Limerick 1852).
Oggi parliamo di un brano tradizionale le cui origini risalgono al XVII secolo, se non a un’epoca precedente, famosissimo tanto nelle isole britanniche quanto nel Nordamerica. Come sempre succede alle melodie molto celebri, anche a questa sono stati adattati più testi diversi; è stata inoltre rielaborata in composizioni destinate a accompagnare danze popolari.
1. Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son
Canzoncina infantile tradizionale; il testo cita il titolo Over the hills and far away, segno che una melodia così chiamata sicuramente preesisteva a questa canzone. Qui è interpretata da Vivien Ellis, Tim Laycock e The Broadside Band:
Tom, he was a piper’s son,
He learnt to play when he was young,
And all the tune that he could play
Was Over the hills and far away.
Over the hills and a great way off,
The wind shall blow my top-knot off.
Tom with his pipe made such a noise,
That he pleased both the girls and boys,
They all stopped to hear him play Over the hills and far away.
[Tom with his pipe did play with such skill
That those who heard him could never keep still;
As soon as he played they began for to dance,
Even the pigs on their hind legs would after him prance.]
As Dolly was milking her cow one day,
Tom took his pipe and began to play;
So Dolly and the cow danced The Cheshire Round
Till the pail was broken and the milk ran on the ground [down].
He met old Dame Trot with a basket of eggs,
He used his pipe and she used her legs;
She danced about till the eggs were all broke,
She began for to fret, but he laughed at the joke.
Tom saw a cross fellow was beating an ass,
Heavy laden with pots, pans, dishes, and glass;
He took out his pipe and he played them a tune,
And the poor donkey’s load was lightened full soon.
Over the hills and a great way off,
The wind shall blow my top-knot off.
2. The distracted Jockey’s Lamentations
Da Wit and Mirth: Or Pills to Purge Melancholy (1698-1720) di Thomas D’Urfey; il testo doveva forse essere inserito nella commedia di D’Urfey The Campaigners (1698). Ascoltiamolo nell’interpretazione dei City Waites diretti da Lucie Skeaping:
Questo è il testo pubblicato nel V volume (1619) della silloge di D’Urfey:
Jocky met with Jenny fair
Aft by the dawning of the day;
But Jockey now is fu’ of care
Since Jenny staw his heart away.
Altho’ she promis’d to be true
She proven has, alake! unkind
Which gars poor Jockey aften rue
That e’er he loo’d a fickle mind.
‘Tis o’er the hills and far away
‘Tis o’er the hills and far away
‘Tis o’er the hills and far away
The wind has blown my Plad (sic) away.
Jockey was a bonny lad
And e’er was born in Scotland fair;
But now poor Jockey is run mad,
For Jenny causes his despair;
Jockey was a Piper’s son
And fell in love when he was young
But all the springs that he could play
Was, O’er the Hills, and far away.
He sung,”When first my Jenny’s face
I saw, she seem’d sae fu’ of grace
With meikle joy my heart was fill’d
That’s now, alas! with sorrow kill’d.
Oh! was she but as true as fair
‘Twad put an end to my despair.
Instead of that she is unkind
And wavers like the winter wind.
Ah! could she find the dismal wae
That for her sake I undergae
She couldna chuse but grant relief
And put an end to a’ my grief;
But, oh! she is as fause as fair
Which causes a’ my sighs and care;
And she triumphs in proud disdain
And takes a pleasure in my pain.
Hard was my hap, to fa’ in love
With ane that does so faithless prove!
Hard was my fate, to court a maid
That has my constant heart betray’d!
A thousand times to me she sware
She wad be true for evermair;
But, to my grief, alake! I say
She staw my heart and ran away.
Since that she will nae pity take
I maun gae wander for her sake
And, in ilk wood and gloomy grove
I’ll, sighing, sing,” Adieu to love.
Since she is fause whom I adore
I’ll never trust a woman more;
Frae a’ their charms I’ll flee away
And on my pipes I’ll sweetly play.”
O’er hills and dales and far away
O’er hills and dales and far away
O’er hills and dales and far away
The wind has blown my plad away.
3. Hark! now the drums beat up again
Canto di reclutamento risalente agli anni della guerra di successione spagnola (1701-14); il testo si trova, con qualche variante, nella commedia di George Farquhar The Recruiting Officer (1706).
Hark! now the drums beat up again
For all true soldier gentlemen,
Then let us list and march, I say,
Over the Hills and far away.
Over the hills and o’er the main
To Flanders, Portugal and Spain,
Queen Anne commands and we’ll obey,
Over the hills and far away.
All gentlemen that have a mind,
To serve the queen that’s good and kind,
Come list and enter into pay,
Then over the hills and far away.
No more from sound of drum retreat,
While Marlborough and Galway beat
The French and Spaniards every day,
When over the hills and far away.
Testo e musica sono stati rielaborati da John Tams per la serie televisiva Sharpe, protagonista Sean Bean, ambientata all’epoca delle guerre napoleoniche; in ogni episodio è cantata una strofe differente. Potete ascoltare la versione di Tams qui.
4. Were I Laid on Greenland’s Coast
Testo di John Gay per The Beggar’s Opera (Air XVI, cantato da Macheath e Polly) con musica adattata da Johann Christoph Pepusch (1728).
Tratto da un cd dedicato ai più celebri airs della Beggar’s Opera da The Broadside Band (dir. Jeremy Barlow), questo clip comprende:
la melodia di Over the hills and far away eseguita da un violino solista
l’Air XVI interpretato da Paul Elliott (tenore) e Patrizia Kwella (soprano) [0:37]
Over the hills and far away, versione tratta da un manoscritto americano del 1780 circa contenente melodie di country dances [1:35]
The wind has blown my plaid away, una versione per flauto tratta dal Drexel Manuscript (1ª metà del XVIII secolo) conservato nella New York Public Library [2:26]
Macheath:
Were I laid on Greenland’s Coast,
And in my Arms embrac’d my Lass;
Warm amidst eternal Frost,
Too soon the Half Year’s Night would pass.
Polly:
Were I sold on Indian Soil,
Soon as the burning Day was clos’d,
I could mock the sultry Toil
When on my Charmer’s Breast repos’d.
Macheath:
And I would love you all the Day,
Polly:
Every Night would kiss and play,
Macheath:
If with me you’d fondly stray
Polly:
Over the Hills and far away.
Vediamo ancora un interessante documento: l’Air XVI della Beggar’s Opera interpretato da Laurence Olivier e Dorothy Tutin nella versione cinematografica del lavoro di Gay, diretta da Peter Brook nel 1953.
la regina gioiosa 