The Leaves Be Greene

Renaissance and traditional folk music celebrating the turn of the seasons - crown the May Queen, dance around the maypole, pick apples in Linden Lea, shelter from cold winter’s ice - eat, drink and be merry!

In the Renaissance, composers took popular tunes and wrote sophisticated arrangements of them - William Byrd’s Sellengers Round in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, any number of settings of Browning or The Leaves be Green for viol consort. This programme takes that precedent and uses old settings of old tunes, new settings of old tunes, madrigals, and more recent folk songs to celebrate the turn of the seasons - crown the May Queen, dance around the maypole, pick apples in Linden Lea, shelter from cold winter’s ice - eat, drink and be merry!