ScoresOnDemand
Muhly, Nico Four Traditional Songs
Score for sale (North America): https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=14043617 Score for sale (UK, Europe and other territories): http://www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/01112214/details.html?kbid=1296 Information about the work and materials for hire: http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/48041
Chester Music Limited Part of the Music Sales Group
These arrangements were commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall. The world premiere was given by Iestyn Davies and Kevin Murphy in Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York City on December 15, 2011, and at Wigmore Hall, London on May 7, 2012.
COMPOSER’S NOTE I selected these four songs after spending many hours obsessing over Alfred Deller’s Vanguard recording of British folksongs. One in particular struck me as heartbreakingly poignant: his unaccompanied rendition of the Bitter Withy. I tried to imagine what a highly stylized but understated accompaniment might sound like, and that forms the fourth song in this collection. The Cruel Mother, about a woman who kills her children and is then visited by their ghosts, is a particularly gruesome murder ballad, and works over a large vocal range. Searching for Lambs has a wonderfully irregular footprint, which required very little interference from me, and A Brisk Young Lad is one of the most unforgivingly sad ballads in the catalogue. This collection is dedicated to Iestyn Davies.
PERFORMANCE NOTE A brief note: as the songs are all, loosely, narratives, the performers should take enormous liberties with tempo and dynamics. The indicated dynamics in the piano part are just suggestions and should be subject to vigorous and joyful replacement. Nico Muhly 2011
Duration: c. 15 minutes
for Iestyn Davies
Four Traditional Songs transposed for Baritone
1. A BRISK YOUNG LAD arr. Nico Muhly (2011)
q = 96
Baritone
mp
3 4
A
brisk
young lad,
3 4 Piano
3 4
court
-
ed
me,
he
my heart with a
free
good
sim.
(l.h.)
p
he
7
stole
a - way
my
lib - er
-
ty,
he
stole
ped. sim.
p
14
will,
he
has
it
now and he’ll
keep
Copyright Š 2011 St Rose Music Publishing Co. and Chester Music Limited. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
it
still.
mp
pp sub.
revised May 2015
3 40
wide
and
deep,
set
mar
-
ble stones
at my
head and
feet,
and a
p
sim.
46
tur
-
tle white
dove
carve
o
-
ver a
-
bove
to
let
the world
mf
p
51
know that I
died
of
p
love.
sub. ppp
mp
pp
4
2. SEARCHING FOR LAMBS q = 144 but flexible
5 4
As
I went out
one May morn- ing,
one May morn-ing
be - time
I
5 4 mp
5 4 5
met
a
ma - id
from home had stray - ed just
as
the
Sun
did shine
What
9
makes you
ri - se
so
soon my dear?
Your
jour - ney to pur - sue?
mf
your
mp
13
pret-ty lit - tle feet
they tread so
sweet, strike off the
morn - ing
dew.
I’m
6 34
Sun doth shine,
how pleas-ant
is
the
air
I’d
ra - ther
rest
on a
mp dim. al fine
38
true love’s breast
than
an - y
oth
-
er
where.
For
I
am
thine
and
(dim.)
42
thou
art
mine,
no
man
shall
un - com - fort
thee
We’ll
(dim.)
45
join our
hands
pp dim.
in
wed-ded bands
and
mar-ried we
will
be.
ppp
7
3. THE CRUEL MOTHER q. = 60
6 8 There was
a
la - dy lived
in York,
all
a - lone and a
lo
-
ney,
a
5
3 8 farm - er’s son,
9
3 8
he
court - ed her
all
down by the green - wood
si
-
de.
6 8 He
court - ed her
3 8
6 8
3 8
6 8
for sev’n
long years,
all
a - lone
and a
pp dolciss., pedal ad lib. 13
lo
-
ney,
17
at
last
she had
3 8 si
-
de.
a
by him,
pitched her knee
6 8 p (r.h. sempre tenuto)
3 8
all
down by the green - wood
6 8 She
3 8
child
6 8
a - gainst
a tree,
13 122
3 8 gate
you shall
not en - ter in,
all
down by the green - wood si
-
de.”
There
mp
127
6 8
3 8
6 8
3 8
6 8
6 8 is
6 8 6 8
a
fire
be - yond
Hell’s gate,
all
a - lone and a
lo
-
ney, and
severe
ff
131
there
you’ll burn both ear - ly and late,
all
down by the green-wood
sff
si
-
de.
p
14
4. THE BITTER WITHY q = 76, but very flexible
2 4
molto rubato
As
it
be - fell
on
a bright hol - i - day, small
hail from the sky did
fall,
Our
5
Sav-iour asked his moth-er dear
if he might go and play at
ball.
At
ball, at ball, my
10
own dear Son, it’s
time that you were gone,
and don’t let me hear of
an - y mis - chief
at
15
night when you come home.
So
up the hill and down the hill our sweet young Sav - iour
20
ran,
un - til
he met three rich young lords,“Good morn- ing” to each
one.
“Good
pp
17 62
home your child for drown’d is ours each
one.
So
Mar - y mild fetched home her child and
sf
pp
67
laid him a-cross her knee
73
Ah
Slowly
bit - ter
77
and with a hand-ful of with -y twigs, she gave him slash-es three.
with - y, ah
bit - ter
with - y, you’ve caus - èd
me
to
smart,
at
the
and the
rit.
wil - low shall
be
the
ver - y
first
tree
to
per - ish
ppp
heart.