| Author | Topic: Add: Once I Loved a Maiden Fair | |
| dmcg | Posted - 24 Sep 03 - 11:53 am | |
Once I loved a maiden fair; But she did deceive me; She with Venus might com-pare, If you will believe me. She was young, And among All our maids the sweetest, Now I say, Ah! well a day! Brightest hopes are fleetest. I the wedding ring had got, Wedding clothes provided, Sure the church would bind a knot, Ne'er to be divided, Married we Straight must be She he vows had plighted, Vows alas, As frail as glass! All my hopes are blighted. Maidens wav'ring and untrue, Many a heart have broken; Sweetest lips the world e'er knew Falsest words have spoken. Fare thee well, Faithless girl, I'll not sorrow for thee; Once I held thee dear as pearl Now I do abhor thee. Source: Sabine Baring Gould, 1895, Old English Songs from English Minstrelsie Notes: This is taken from the selection of the eight volume work by Baring Gould of the same name, reprinted by Llanerch Publishers. Notes are not given in the selection, but are in the full eight volume work to which I do not have access. Therefore I can give very little information about the origins of this song. Again, this is better known as a dance tune from Playford's "English Dancing Master" of 1651 than as a song. In the introduction, Baring Gould says "I have marked with an asterisk those country dances of which the ballad words remain. There are several others to which later words have been set, that have displaced the original words." 'Once I loved a maiden fair' has an asterisk, so the words are - in Baring Gould's view - the original. Database entry is here. Edited By dmcg - 24-Sep-2003 01:23:45 PM | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 24 Sep 03 - 02:23 pm | |
Chappell, Popular Music of the Olden Time, 1859, I 257: "A copy of this ballad is in the Roxburghe Collection, i. 350, printed for the assigns of Thomas Symcock. The tune is in The Dancing Master, from 1650 to 1698; in Playford's Introduction, 1664; in Musick's Delight on the Cithren, 1666; in Apollo's Banquet for the Treble Violin, 1670; in the Pleasant Companion for the Flageolet, &c. The first song in Patrick Carey's Trivial Poems, written in 1651 ('Fair one! if thus kind you be') is to the tune Once I lov'd a maiden fair. It is also alluded to in The Fool turn'd Critic, 1678 - 'We have now such tunes, such lamentable tunes, that would make me forswear all music. Maiden fair and The King's Delight are incomparable to some of these we have now.' The ballad consists of twelve stanzas, from which the following are selected." [Here Chappell prints the music; with which, Frank Kidson commented (Minstrelsy of England, 1901, 185) "he appears to have taken some liberties", and the following text.] Once I lov'd a maiden fair, But she did deceive me; She with Venus might compare In my mind, believe me. She was young, and among Creatures of temptation, Who will say, but maidens may Kiss for recreation. Three times I did make it known, To the congregation, That the church should make us one, As priest had made relation. Married we straight must be, Although we go a begging; Now, alas, 'tis like to prove A very hopeless wedding. Happy he who never knew What to love belonged; Maidens wavering and untrue Many a man have wronged. Fare thee well! faithless girl, I'll not sorrow for thee; Once I held thee dear as pearl, Now I do abhor thee. | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 24 Sep 03 - 05:20 pm | |
Once I Lov'd a Maiden Fair at The Dancing Master, 1651-1728 An Illustrated Compendium. | ||