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The Banks of Green Willow

The Banks of Green Willow is a piece of orchestral music by British composer George Butterworth. It was composed in 1913, is written in the key of A major, and is around six minutes long.

\new Staff \with{ \magnifyStaff #3/4 } << { \new Voice \relative c' { \clef treble \key a \major \time 3/4 \autoBeamOff \partial 4 a'8 \stemUp b cis4. d8 b cis | a[( b)] e,4 a8[( gis)] | \break fis4 d b' b8[( gis)] e4 \fermata e8 a | a4 e8 e cis8. b16 | \break a8.[( cis16)] e4 e8 e | fis4 d' b | cis8[( b)] a4 r \bar "|." } \addlyrics { \override LyricText.font-size = #-1 Oh it's of a young sea cap -- tain \markup{Lived_} by the sea side -- o, And he court -- ed a far -- mer's daugh -- ter, And he made her his bride -- o. } } { \new Voice \relative c' { \clef treble \key a \major \time 3/4 \autoBeamOff \stemDown s1 | s1 | s1 | e8 fis | } } >> \layout { \context {\Score \omit BarNumber} line-width = #110 }
The tune as noted by Butterworth from the singing of Mr & Mrs Cranstone of Billingshurst, Sussex, in June 1907. It varies in several respects from that used in the orchestral work of 1913.

Composition

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This is a short orchestral piece by George Butterworth, probably the most played of his three works for orchestra. It has certainly been his most recorded orchestral work.

Described by its composer as an "Idyll", and written in 1913, it is scored for a small orchestra consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, one trumpet, harp and strings.[1] It is thus a belated companion to the Two English Idylls of 1910–1911. All three pieces are founded on folk melodies Butterworth collected in Sussex in 1907, each has a similar "arch" shape, and each lasts between 4½ and 6 minutes.[2]

Butterworth based The Banks of Green Willow on two folk song melodies that he noted in 1907 – "The Banks of Green Willow" (Child 24, Roud 172) and "Green Bushes" (Roud 1040, Laws P2). The first was noted from the singing of "Mr & Mrs Cranstone" of Billingshurst,[3] though a few bars from the end (after the flute and harp have played Green Bushes) a solo violin muses on a variant of the tune, recorded by Butterworth in 1909, using a phonograph, from the singing of David Clements in a Basingstoke Workhouse[4] (and available on the British Library Sound Archive website).[5] Versions of the second tune were noted from at least ten different singers, though the tune as it appears in the Idyll is not any of them. Each use of each tune varies slightly, and it is likely that Butterworth created new variants based on features of all the various versions he collected. Green Bushes as it appears in the Idyll most closely resembles that sung by Ned Harding of Lower Beeding, Sussex, in June 1907.[6] It is interesting that the composer also noted a version from Mr Cranstone, though it is not much like the one in the Idyll. Green Bushes was a common tune, and there are notable uses of it in works by Ralph Vaughan Williams (Folk Song Suite, Movement 2) and Percy Grainger (Passacaglia: Green Bushes and The Lost Lady Found).

A solo clarinet and strings create a pastoral scene with the title theme, followed by a short development and restatement of the tune. The mood becomes more sombre and agitated as a new theme (Butterworth's own, on horns) is introduced. An animated motif leads to the main climax, which is surprisingly passionate for such a short work, before the music subsides to introduce Green Bushes hesitantly on oboe. This is repeated gently on flute, accompanied by harp, and the piece ends tranquilly with snatches of the variant title theme on violin solo, horn and oboe.

As the composer said this piece is a "musical illustration to the ballad of the same name",[7][full citation needed] it may be useful to realise that the folk ballad tells the tale of a farmer's daughter who falls in love with a young sea-captain, becomes pregnant and runs away with him to sea, having first stolen money from her parents. When her child is born on board ship, the labour is especially difficult and there is no "woman's help" available. Knowing she will die, she asks her lover to "bind a napkin round my head, then throw me overboard, both me and my baby"[8] Her lover does this and watches as she "quivers" – presumably in her death-throes – and he sings a lament to "my true love, whom I once loved so dearly" and who shall be buried on "The Banks of Green Willow" (Butterworth's capitalisation). It is a shocking tale, even more so in other collected versions, where it is the man who decides to throw the girl and baby overboard rather than risk the shame of taking them home (Mr & Mrs Cranstone's text is a little more palatable).

The premiere of The Banks of Green Willow took place on 27 February 1914, when Adrian Boult conducted a combined orchestra of forty members of the Hallé and Liverpool orchestras in West Kirby. This was, in fact, the 24-year-old conductor’s first concert with a professional orchestra (he also gave the British premiere of Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade at the same concert). The London premiere took place three weeks later, and seems to have been the last occasion Butterworth heard his own music.

Butterworth was killed on 5 August 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. He was aged 31, and was a Lieutenant in the Durham Light Infantry. His body has never been recovered.

Recorded history

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Modern representations

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The popular piece is often used in TV adverts with wholesome panoramic views of the British countryside, for products such as dog food and life insurance, as well as being a favourite of Classic FM.

There are many variant folk songs by the same name. A 2003 novel by the Irish writer Kevin Myers also has the title.

Other versions

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Piano solo, arranged by John Mitchell ([Thames Publishing, available from Music Sales as a special order edition

Brass band

  • arranged by Phillip Brookes (Pabmusic, 1972)
  • arranged by Duncan Wilson

Recorded by The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Arranged by George Hinchcliffe. On album Lousy War 2016.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Score published by Stainer & Bell, London, 1918
  2. ^ Barlow, Michael, Whom The Gods Love, Toccata Press, London, 1997
  3. ^ All songs that Butterworth collected are in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, Cecil Sharp House, London. The Cranstone song is manuscript no.GB/6b/26.
  4. ^ EFDSS cylinders no.97 & 104
  5. ^ "The Banks of Green Willow - Ethnographic wax cylinders - World and traditional music | British Library - Sounds". sounds.bl.uk. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  6. ^ Manuscript no.GB/6a/80. Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, Cecil Sharp House, London.
  7. ^ Höflich, Jürgen (2006). Barlow, Michael. Munich: Musikproduktion http://www.musikmph.de. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ^ Text as noted by Butterworth from Mr & Mrs Cranstone, Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, Cecil Sharp House, London. Manuscript no.GB/6b/26.
  9. ^ HMV C3491
  10. ^ Belart CD 461354-2
  11. ^ a b BBC Classics BBCRD 9119
  12. ^ Lyrita SRCD 245
  13. ^ Decca 468 802-2
  14. ^ EMI 382 1572
  15. ^ CHAN 8373
  16. ^ EMI CDC7 47945-2
  17. ^ Nimrod NI 5068
  18. ^ IMP PCD 926
  19. ^ Decca 436 401-2
  20. ^ Meridian CDE 84330
  21. ^ Chandos CHAN 9902
  22. ^ Hallé CD HLL 7503
  23. ^ Apex 2564614372
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