The Oak and the Ash arranged by Stephen Dunstone for 3-part harp ensemble
Автор: Stephen Dunstone
Загружено: 2025-09-15
Просмотров: 81
Apparently it’s fairly common in English folk songs for the singer to be a country girl who deeply regrets having moved to a big city, and longs to return to the simple pleasures of the home that she has left. The opening of The Oak and the Ash goes as follows:
Verse: A North Country maid up to London had strayed,
Although with her nature it did not agree,
She wept and she sighed, and so bitterly she cried
“How I wish once again in the North I could be.
Chorus: Oh the oak and the ash and the bonnie ivy tree,
They flourish at home in my own country!”
The number of verses and even the words vary from version to version, but the sentiment’s always the same: she will spurn any advances from these decadent city men, “for the man that I wed must be north country bred and tarry with me in my north country home...”
I’ve also heard different cadences at the ends of verses. My arrangements are in G minor, and although there are plenty of sharpened leading notes (F sharps) as in a conventional harmonic minor scale, I’ve chosen to base my verse endings on the versions where the melody ends G-F-G which allows for a Gm-Dm-Gm cadence and creates a lovely modal feel that emphasises the wistful folk-tune character of the piece.
To all harpists out there: as is the case with 'Fraid Not there are quite a few accidentals in The Oak and the Ash, but I've marked all necessary pedal or lever changes in the sheet music, which is obtainable as usual from Creighton's Collection (https://www.creighton-griffiths.co.uk...) or from your regular harp music supplier.
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