Four pieces for the price of one click
These arrangements are built on a song popular at the end of the 16th century, entitled variously "Robin", "Sweet Robin", "Bonny Sweet Robin" and "Robin Hood is to the Greenwood Gone". It is unfortunate that the lyrics are lost, although Ophelia mentions it in Hamlet.
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The song may not refer to the Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest, but I can't resist this anachronistic woodcut. |
Dowland sticks more closely to the original melody than he does in some of his song adaptations. It can be difficult in his wonderful version to hear at first where the upper voice (melody) lies, so I have made two simple versions, as a kind of primer.
The first version is basically chord + melody, a style that was found in the more earthy pieces entabulated in in the Osborn Commonplace Book, and other MSS for Renaissance guitar around 1600.
The second includes a second voice, but maintains the melody without ornament or variation. The harmonies are taken from Dowland, as are some of the phrases, often in a simplified form.
The arrangement of Dowland's lute piece "Robin (P70)" fits in all the voices I can, which gives you the option of simplifying. Often the lower voices have been combined, but I have tried to make an interesting line. (Poulton & Lam, 1981. The collected lute music of John Dowland, p 247. Faber.)
The arrangement of Thomas Robinson's "Robin is to the Greenwood Gone" is made from made from a piece in Schoole of Musicke (1603), f.i2v, encoded and edited by the indefatigable Sarge Gerbode. Robinson's harmonies provide an interesting contrast with Dowland's.
ANALYSIS
The structure of the song is simple: a strain (A) of 4 bars, repeated, then followed by a strain (B) of 8 bars, also repeated. In all arrangements other than the first, the repeats are elaborated. In the Dowland piece, the whole song is repeated twice, with variation.
The arrangements are available as a compendium in the following formats:
