Hey down, down (Anonymous)
Music files
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- Editor: Jason Smart (submitted 2023-08-09). Score information: A4, 7 pages, 404 kB Copyright: CC BY NC ND
- Edition notes: Edited from a facsimile edition of the original manuscript.
- Editor: Christopher Shaw (submitted 2023-03-13). Score information: Unknown Copyright: CC BY SA
- Edition notes: Please click on the link for preview/playback/PDF download. This edition comprises a transcription of the original canon, and a realization written out in full.
General Information
Title: Het down, down
Composer: Anonymous
Lyricist:
Number of voices: 4vv Voicings: SBBB or SBBBB
Genre: Secular, Canon
Language: English
Instruments: A cappella
Manuscript 1580 in Dow Partbooks, no. 134
Description: A four-part round over a rising and falling hexachord, recorded as a jeu d'esprit at the end of the bass volume of the Dow partbooks (probably one of the latest entries in the set). Unattributed, it is sometimes credited to Thomas Ravenscroft (presumably on the basis of similarity to items in Pammelia); there seems to be no other example of this piece extant. The wordless top part may be either played or sung.
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
Hey, down, down, down, down,
Sing ye now after me:
La mi sol re fa, so shall we well agree.
Take heed to your time and rest as you find;
The round and the square must be tuned in their kind.
Oh! Well sung, my lads!
I say we are as good by night as by day:
La mi sol re fa. Let us be merry here
As long time as we may, for time truly passes away.
Hey-ho, hey-ho, hey-ho, hey, down, down, down.