The Leafy Greens & Mutton were a small, enthusiastic ensemble of folks who really like to sing, play and perform medieval music.
Coming together in the fall of 2004, LG&M was a nameless bunch of merrymakers – so merry that they took some mis-sung lyrics as their very name! By the spring of 2005, we were a real group – we even won the Period Musical Performance category at the Society for Creative Anachronism’s (SCA) Festival of Northern Lights Arts & Sciences Challenge. (You can see our fancy award for yourself if you wish!) Since then we’ve had public concerts at the Bangor Mall, Church of Universal Fellowship events in Orono, the Bangor Public Library, and enjoy the occasonal appearance at the Orono Community Theatre Arts Cafe.
As members of the SCA, we made every effort to capture the joy and sound of medieval music, from dance tunes to ballads, focusing on music written during (or about) the times from around 1000 to 1650 AD. LG&M members host workshops on the bardic arts, encourage singing and music at SCA events and campfires, and work to revive songs of ages gone by.
We had a limited performance schedule. Traditionally we performed for local SCA events (with a focus on a public demonstration at Fort Knox each September and medieval carols in the local Mall each winter). By the end of our time we had even had a few concerts that were just us!
LG&M has been defunct since about 2009, but here’s our medieval music setlist:
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Medieval Music
Round of Three Country Dances in One: Collected by Thomas Ravenscroft, 1609
John Kiss Me Now: Collected by Thomas Ravenscroft, 1609
Hey Downe Downe: Collected by Thomas Ravenscroft, 1609
Hey Ho, Nobody Home:Anon.,round collected by Thomas Ravenscroft, late 16 th century
Sumer is a Cumin In: Anon.,part-song from the 12 th century
I Am Athirst : Collected by Thomas Ravenscroft, 1609
Three Rounds as One – Hey Ho Nobody Home, Rose Rose, and Ah Poor Bird : Collected by Thomas Ravenscroft, 1609 (arranged by LG&M)
When Joan’s Ale Was New: Anon. 1594
Come Again Sweet Love : John Dowland 1597
Can She Excuse My Wrongs : John Dowland 1597
Now is the Month of Maying : Thomas Morley 1595
Oh Lusty May : Anon. c.1550
Where the Bee Sucks: text William Shakespeare The Tempest: Act V, Scene 1; music Robert Johnson, late 16 th century
Pass Time with Good Company: Henry VIII, early 16 th century
Greensleeves: Anon. first mentioned in 1580 (it was first used in a Christmas carol, “The Old Year Now Away Has Fled” in 1642)
All in a Garden Green:John Playford’s collection “The English Dancing Master” 1651;
Oh Mistress Mine: text Shakepeare, Twelfth Night: Act II, Scene 3; tune Anon.;
The Northern Lasses Lamentation to the tune Goddesses ; or, The Unhappy Maids Misfortune : John Playford’s collection “The English Dancing Master” 1651;
Farewell Adeiu (to the tune of Selliger’s Round) : Anon.
Country Man’s Delight (to the tune of Selliger’s Round) : Anon.
Young Men and Maids (to the tune of Selliger’s Round) : Anon.
Lord Randall (Durante My Son): roots in Italy, in the early 1600s; the earliest English versions are from the late eighteenth century, and our earliest musical records are 19th century.
The Carrion Crow: Anon. 1450 (and was still being sung in “the colonies” after the 1600s.)
Three Ravens:Collected by Thomas Ravenscroft , 1611
Twa Corbies : a variant of Three Ravens, loosely dated to the late 16 th century (meaning that the original, Three Ravens, is possibly quite a bit older.)
Antiphon for the Virgin (Cum Erubureint): Hildegarde von Bingen, early 12 th century
Magnificat chant: traditional chant, this version published in 1624
Sicut Cervus : Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)(br> Easter Sequence Chant: Wipo of Burgundy in the 11th century, this piece, both tune and text, still exists in the Roman Catholic Easter mass.
We also like to sing non-medieval music – some songs are written by SCAdians from far away kingdoms; some songs written by those of us before you. Some songs are modern songs that have the “feel” of the middle ages or life in the SCA.
Welcome to the Current Middle Ages : Derek Foster, 1979
Song of the Shieldwall : Malkin Grey and Peregryn Wyndryder (mka unknown)
Savage Daughter : Wyndrith Berginsdottir (mka Karen L Unrein, 1990)
Shield My Kinsmen : Wyndrith Berginsdottir (mka Karen L Unrein, 1990)
Lifeblood, a Viking Drinking Song : Wyndrith Berginsdottir (mka Karen L Unrein, 1993)
Tale of Jaden’s Shield : Aneleda Falconbridge (mka Monique Gibouleau, 2003)
O’er By the Watch Tower: Lord Gwillim Kynith (mka Brian Hubbard, 2004)
Ode To Endewearde: Aneleda Falconbridge (mka Monique Gibouleau, 2004)
The Parting Glass : 1770s Irish, at the earliest, but of good SCAdian sentiment and a lovely way to end a good bonfire