Three Ravens: with a down vs heigh ho

Subject: RE: Three Ravens: with a down vs heigh ho
From: Roberto
Date: 05 Sep 11 - 11:45 AM

Thank you, Brian. Very interesting. R

Subject: RE: Three Ravens: with a down vs heigh ho
From: Brian Peters
Date: 05 Sep 11 - 11:33 AM

Hi Roberto,

The version I recorded uses tune, refrain and two verses from the set noted by Frank Kidson in 1891 from John Holmes of Roundhay, Leeds (learned, according to Bronson, "from his mother in Derbyshire, c. 1825), and several verses from the "with a down" version from Ravenscroft's Melismata. The interesting thing to me is the similarity in melody and - in some respects - the text over more than 200 years.

Bronson (and, more recently, Vic Gammon in notes to the A. L. Lloyd ballad CD) draws attention to the smiliarity with the Corpus Christi Carol, which can be traced from 16th century origins to a version collected by Vaughan Williams in 1908 - also, interestingly, in Derbyshire - as 'Down in Yon Forest'.

Subject: Three Ravens: with a down vs heigh ho
From: GUEST,Roberto
Date: 05 Sep 11 - 11:14 AM

I'd like to know if both sets of The Three Ravens, the one with the second chorus in each stanza that recites "with a down" and the one with "heigh ho", come from Ravenscroft's Melismata. Brian Peters recently recorded the set with the "heigh ho" refrain. Ewan MacColl, both. Please, help & knowledge. R