“Greensleeves” is a traditional English folk song and tune, a ground either of the form called a romanesca or of its slight variant, the passamezzo antico.
The tune is found in several late-16th-century and early 17th-century sources.
There is a persistent belief that Greensleeves was composed by Henry VIII for his lover and future queen consort Anne Boleyn. Boleyn allegedly rejected King Henry’s attempts to seduce her and this rejection may be referred to in the song when the writer’s love “cast me off discourteously”. However, Henry did not compose “Greensleeves”, which is probably Elizabethan in origin and is based on an Italian style of composition that did not reach England until after his death.
Comments