It's a Rosebud in June - for 2 Harps

Happy Valentine's Day!  Here's an English folk song, which dates from before 1715.  This version was arranged in 1916 by Cecil J. Sharp, and I transcribed and adapted it for 2 harps.  It makes a lush, harpy backdrop for some lovely pictures with roses.  The video runs about 2 minutes.

Pictures in Video -

1 - Rose Island, book illustration from Greenhouse Flora of Europe, circa 1866
2 - Juin, print from calendar by Samuel Grasset, 1896
3 - Growing Buckbee's American Beauty Roses, Victorian trade card, circa 1911
4 - Rose Garden, painting by Charles Vetter, 1926
5 - Roses, painting by P.S. Kroyer, 1893
6 - Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, painting by John William Waterhouse, 1909
7 - Girl with Rosebush, painting by Hugo Kauffmann, 1904
8 - Early Lovers, painting by Frederick Smallfield, 1858
8 - God Speed! detail of a painting by Edmund Leighton, 1900
10 - The Soul of the Rose, painting by John William Waterhouse, 1908
11 - Rosa Triplex, watercolor by Gabriel Rossetti, 1874

Barbara Allen - for harp

Here's a traditional love song, which has a beautiful melody for harp, even though it is a sad story. The video runs about 3 minutes, and it helps to know the story or read the lyrics so the pictures will make sense:

"Barbara Allen" Lyrics

All in the merry month of May,
When green buds all are swellin'.
Sweet William on his deathbed lay for love of Barbara Allen.
He sent his servant to the town,
The place where she did dwell in.
Saying, 'Master dear has sent me here if your name be Barbara Allen.'
Then slowly, slowly she got up and slowly she went to him,
And all she said when there she came was, 'Young man, I think you're dying.
'Don't you remember the other night when we were in the tavern?
You drank a toast to the ladies there and slighted Barbara Allen.'
He turned his face unto the wall,
He turned his back upon her.
'Adieu, adieu, to all my friends.
And be kind to Barbara Allen.'
As she was wandering on the fields she heard the death bell knellin'.
And every note, it seemed to say,
'Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!'
The more it tolled the more she grieved,
She bursted out a-crying.
'Oh, pick me up and carry me home.
I fear that I am dying.'
They buried Willy in the old church yard and Barbara in the new one,
And from William's grave, there grew a rose, from Barbara's, a green briar.
They grew and grew in the old church yard,
Till they could grow no higher,
And there they tied in a true lover's knot,
The red rose and the briar.

Pictures in Video -
1 - garden catalog illustration, 1899
2 - Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, book illustration, Ian Maclaren, author, 1899
3 - Woman at the Virginal, detail of a painting by Jan Miense Molenaer, circa 1635
4 - Boy with a Pipe, painting by Jan Miense Molenaer, circa 1630
5 - Happy Company, detail of a painting by Jan Miense Molenaer, 1615
6 - Cruel Barbara Allen, songbook illustration by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale, circa 1920
7 - Pastoral Scene, painting by Jan Miense Molenaer, 1632
8 - The Young Lady Bellringer, painting by Otto Plitz, 1875
9 - To Edgar Alan Poe, detail of a lithograph by Odilon Redon, 1882
10 - Bonchurch, Old Church Near Ventnor, book illustration by A. Heaton Cooper, circa 1840
11 - funeral holy card illustration, 1896
12 - In the Cemetery of the Deaconesses Abbey, journal illustration, 1871
13 - The Young Lady Bellringer, (filtered effect) painting by Otto Plitz, 1875
14 - Provence or French Rose, engraving by Henry Joseph Redoute, 1917

The Banks of the Sweet Primroses - for Harp

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's a little traditional English tune I arranged for harp. The images with it are vintage Valentines, mostly by one of my favorite illustrators: Kate Greenaway. It's about a minute and a half of music-boxy harpy sweetness. (And just so you know, the lyrics of this folk song give a very real-world-and-less-idyllic depiction of romance.)

Pictures in Video -

1-3 Valentines from "The Quiver of Love," book illustrations by Kate Greenaway, 1876
4 - Valentine post card, circa 1905
5 - Valentine from "The Quiver of Love," book illustration by Kate Greenaway, 1876
6 - Valentine card by Kate Greenaway, circa 1880
7 - Valentine chromolithograph greeting card by Kate Greenaway, 1876
8 - Valentine post card, 1911

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love - for Harp

In honor of Valentine's Day (delayed by the great winter storm of 2021), here's a harp arrangement of John Dowland's circa-1600 tune written for Christopher Marlowe's poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," sometimes known for its first line, "Come Live with Me and Be My Love."  This is a pretty little minute of harp music and pictures of sheep, girls, boys, hills, and valleys.  Enjoy!

Pictures in Video -

1 - Shepherd with a Flute, painting by Savoldo Giovanni Girolamo, Italy, circa 1525
2 - Return of the Herd, painting by Constant Troyon, France, circa 1860
3 - Shepherd and Shepherdess, painting by Abraham Bloemaert, France, 1627
4 - View of the Sele River and the Alburni Mountain Range, painting by Jacob Philipp Hackert, Italy, 1788
5 - painting of shepherd, by Hossein Behzad, Iran, before 1968
6 - The Shepherdess, watercolor by Winslow Homer, US, 1880
7 - The Breton Shepherd, painting by Paul Gauguin, France, 1886
8 - Rest at Pont Aven, painting by Emile Bernard, France, circa 1888
9 - Shepherd Girl Resting, painting by Winslow Homer, US, 1878
10 - Cloud Shadows, painting by Viktor Zarubi, Ukraine, circa 1907

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
- by Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me, and be my love;
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies;
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair linèd slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy-buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And, if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.

The shepherd-swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my love.

I'd Open a Vein for You Armwarmers

I love these! The left armwarmer is black... the right arm has the red embroidery, or vice versa if you prefer. Here's how to do it, working from the Witch Warmers pattern.

1. Knit 2 solid black armwarmers using the pattern, but make them evening length. To do this, work extra stockinette rounds at the end of the increase section, to desired length minus 1/2 inch. I stopped at 13" measured without the ruffle. Then continue to the ribbed top section in the pattern.

Right Arm Embroidery

2. Thread a yarn needle with a 6-foot length of sportweight red yarn. Tie a big slip knot in one end.

3. Find the knitted triangle in the ruffle, which leads straight up to the point where the armwarmer increases start. That's the triangle the heart goes on.

4. Using the outline stitch, embroider a heart outline on the ruffle triangle, starting at the bottom point of the heart and working all the way around back to the same point.

5. Still using the outline stitch, embroider a line going up the armwarmer, through the middle of the increase section and stopping just before the ribbed top of the armwarmer. You can make the line look more like dripping blood by shifting to the right or left by one stitch once or twice. Keeping the line perfectly straight gives a nice stocking-seam look.

6. Make an extra straight stitch on each side of the final outline stitch to create a chicken-foot effect.

7. Cut another length of red yarn, this time 3 feet long. Thread it into the yarn needle, and fill in the heart outline with satin stitch.

8. Bring all yarn ends to the inside of the armwarmer, tie off, and work in.

To Wear - line up the heart with your thumb, to show off the embroidery.

You can find more variations for Witch Warmers here:
Yule Warmers
Short Witch Warmers