Tune Req: Invitation to the Dance

21 Jan 00 - 12:50 AM (#166101)
Subject: Invitation to the Dance
From: Lonesome EJ

I came across this song in an old English compilation. I was intrigued by the lyrics and wondered how the tune might run. I could find no trace of it in the data base. As they appear, the words are a translation by JA Symonds from middle english.

Invitation to the Dance

Cast aside dull books and thought
Sweet is folly,sweet is play:
Take the pleasure Spring hath brought
In youth's opening holiday!
Right it is old age should ponder
On grave matters frought with care;
Tender youth is free to wander,
Free to frolic light as air.
refrainLike a dream our prime is flown,
Prisoned in a study:
Sport and folly are youth's own,
Tender youth and ruddy.

Lo, the spring of life slips by,
Frozen winter comes apace;
Strength is minished silently,
Care writes wrinkles on our face;
Pleasures dwindle, joys decrease,
Til old age at length assails us
With his troop of illnesses
refrain

Live we like the gods above;
This is wisdom, this is truth:
Chase the joys of tender love
In the leisure of our youth!
Keep the vows we swore together,
Lads,obey that ordinance;
Seek the fields in sunny weather,
Where the laughing maidens dance.
refrain

There the lad who lists may see
Which among the maids is kind;
There young limbs deliciously
Flashing through the dances wind:
While the girls their arms are raising,
Moving,winding o'er the lea,
Still I stand and gaze, and gazing
They have stolen the soul of me!
refrainLike a dream our prime is flown,
Prisoned in a study;
Sport and folly are youth's own,
Tender youth and ruddy.

Anyone who can help with tune or background/history, I appreciate you help.

LEJ

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21 Jan 00 - 01:12 AM (#166108)
Subject: Invitation to the Dance
From: GUEST

C'mon Everybody

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21 Jan 00 - 03:05 AM (#166121)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Invitation to the Dance
From: Joe Offer

Well, Lej, there's an 1821 piano composition by Carl Maria Von Weber called Invitation to the Dance. I suppose it could be the tune you're seeking, although he called in "Aufforderung zum Tanze."
-Joe Offer-

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21 Jan 00 - 03:14 PM (#166296)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Invitation to the Dance
From: Lonesome EJ

Joe, the book identified this as a "student song" in middle English. Approximately 13-1400's. Doubt it would be the same. Bruce O? You out there?

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21 Jan 00 - 05:34 PM (#166347)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Invitation to the Dance
From: Joe Offer

Oh, dang. Can't link to song samples at CDNOW any more, I guess. Darn them.
Let's see if I have any luck with Amazon. Nope, not them, either. You'll recognize the tune right away from their accordion orchestra sample. Click here and then find the song yourself at the bottom half of the page.
I kind of doubted that there was a connection between your song and Von Weber's piece, LEJ - but classical composers often use folk melodies, so my idea wasn't as far-fetched as it might seem.
-Joe Offer-

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22 Jan 00 - 10:11 AM (#166650)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Invitation to the Dance
From: George Seto - [e-mail]

Seems to me, Leahy, a Canadian Fiddle group, has a tune called "Invitation to Dance". Wonder if it is any relation.

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