I have a question about the origin of the well-known tune, Sellenger’s Round (aka The Beginning of the World). The details are not dissimilar to the question I recently posted about Kemp’s Jig.

Folk musicians are very familiar with Sellenger’s Round, and can often be heard to proclaim ‘Oh yes, that’s in Playford’, only it’s not!

The Sellenger’s Round (in C) in Playford (1651) is a completely different tune to the one known to folkies (in G). There is another tune in Playford, Spring Garden (in C), which has the alternative title of Sellenger’s Round, but this is yet another tune.

But now the plot thickens. Volume 1 of the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, although compiled in the nineteenth century, contains pieces from about 1562-1612, including a William Byrd arrangement of Sellenger’s Round (the ‘folkie’ one in G). Clearly, Byrd didn’t compose the tune, as Playford predates the FVB collection, and also because it certainly doesn’t sound like a Byrd composition.

So, does anyone out there have any idea of where the tune – and the title – came from?

Thanks in advance,
Gordon