Epitaph on Sally Salisbury (John Stafford Smith)
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- (Posted 2021-10-04) CPDL #66063:
- Editor: Christopher Shaw (submitted 2021-10-04). Score information: A4, 5 pages, 249 kB Copyright: CC BY SA
- Edition notes: Please click on the link for preview/playback/PDF download. This edition comprises a modern realisation, and a statement of the piece in its original specialised format.
General Information
Title: Epitaph on Sally Salisbury
Composer: John Stafford Smith
Lyricist:
Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: TTTT
Genre: Secular, Glee
Language: English
Instruments: A cappella
First published: 1773
Description: This catch gained a Catch Club prize medal in 1773. Sally Salisbury was a renowned prostitute in the first two decades of the eighteenth century; the revealed text adds to the risqué nature of the text.
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
Here, on her back but unactive at last,
Poor Sally lies under grim death;
Thro' the course of her vices she gallop'd so fast;
No wonder she's now out of breath.
To the goal of her pleasure she drove very hard,
But was tripp'd up e'er half-way she ran.
And tho' ev'ryone fancied her life was a yard,
Yet it prov'd to be less than a span.