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

The Lark in the Morning - for Harp

The Lark in the Morning is a folk song that dates back to at least 1778, made popular in the 1970s by The Dubliners.  Here's a harpy romp through things Irish (and one Swedish).  It runs about 2 minutes.

Pictures in Video -

1 - Colleen in Kinsale Cloak, post card, 1905
2 - 101st Anniversary Dinner, detail of program illustration, Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, 1885
3 - Shamrock Dear, magazine cover, 1907
4 - 117th Annual Banquet program, Hibernian Society, 1888
5 - Leprechaun, journal illustration by Jean Noel Lafargue, post 1968
6 - On the Seventeenth, magazine cover illustration, 1911
7-Lucky Way, detail of Christmas card by Jenny Nystrom, pre 1947
8 - The Sweet Little Shamrock, post card, circa 1910
9 - The Shamrock, post card by Ellen H. Clapsaddle, 1908
10 - Wearing of the Green, post card by Ellen H. Clapsaddle, 1907
11 - Lismore Castle, post card, 1903
12 - Castle Connell, post card, 1903
13 - Eire, print, 1865
14 - Let the Golden Harp Play, post card, unknown date
15 - Erin go Bragh, detail of post card, unknown date

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

Wild Mountain Thyme - for Harp

 

This is a folk song that I have loved all my life, inspired by Judy Collins' rendition. I've arranged "Wild Mountain Thyme" for harp, and the pictures are a celebration of Ireland's mountains and of wildflowers in the spring.  It's about a minute and a half.

Pictures in Video -

1 - Macgillicuddy's Reeks, oil painting/postcard, Killarney, 1903
2 - Upper Lake Above Gap of Dunloe, oil painting/postcard, Killarney, 1903
3 - Near Dinis Island, oil painting/postcard, Killarney, 1903
4 - Eagle's Nest, oil painting/postcard, Killarney, 1903
5-11 Wild Flowers and Where They Grow, book illustrations by Lizbeth Bullock Humphrey, Boston, 1882
12 - Upper Lake, oil painting/postcard, Glendalough, 1903
13 - Serpent Lake, Gap of Dunloe, oil painting/postcard, Killarney, 1903
14 - Glendalough, oil painting/postcard, 1903
15 - Dublin, watercolor by Stephen Lucius Gwynn, 1915
16 - Picking Wildflowers, watercolor by Rhoda Holmes Nicholls, US, 1900
17 - Wild Thyme, book illustration by Anne Pratt, US, 1857
18 - St. Patrick's Day Greetings, oil painting/postcard, Glendalough, 1903