"Yellow Stockings" is an undeniably Irish tune. The
very name has a reference to the saffron truis of the
mediaeval Irish. Shakespeare introduces it in "Twelfth
Night," and the air dates from the sixteenth century,
being known by the natives as Cuma liom, "It is
indifferent to me," or "I don't care." Playford printed
it as early as 1680, and in 1705, Dean Swift adapted a
nursery song, "Hey my kitten, my kitten," to it. Other
verses for our Irish tune are "Mad Moll" (1698) and
"The Virgin Queen" ...(+)
"Yellow Stockings" is an undeniably Irish tune. The
very name has a reference to the saffron truis of the
mediaeval Irish. Shakespeare introduces it in "Twelfth
Night," and the air dates from the sixteenth century,
being known by the natives as Cuma liom, "It is
indifferent to me," or "I don't care." Playford printed
it as early as 1680, and in 1705, Dean Swift adapted a
nursery song, "Hey my kitten, my kitten," to it. Other
verses for our Irish tune are "Mad Moll" (1698) and
"The Virgin Queen" (1703); and, finally, Tom Moore set
it to his lyric, "Fairest put on awhile."
The Jig (Irish: port) is a form of lively folk dance in
compound meter, as well as the accompanying dance tune.
It developed in 16th century England, and was quickly
adopted on the Continent where it eventually became the
final movement of the mature Baroque dance suite (the
French gigue; Italian and Spanish giga). Today it is
most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish
country dance music. Jigs were originally in duple
compound meter, (e.g., 12/8 time), but have been
adapted to a variety of time signatures, by which they
are often classified into groups, including light jigs,
slip jigs, single jigs, double jigs, and treble
jigs.
Although originally written for folk instruments, I
created this unusual arrangement for Oboe (mimicking a
pipe solo), Flute (in a strange role as percussion) and
Cellos (providing the drone).
SHEET MUSIC