Saturday 7 August 2010
Tune of the Day: Dargason
Traditional English dance tune
This English dance tune, which is also known as “Cynwyd”, “Sedany” and “Welsh Sedawny”, dates back to at least 1580. It is also used for the folk‐song “The Hawthorne Tree”, aka “It was a maid of my country”. Essentially, this is an 8‐bar circular melody that lends itself easily to combination with others.
In his Suite No. 2 for Military Band (1911), English composer Gustav Holst combined the “Dargason” with “Greensleeves” in the fourth and last movement, titled “Fantasia on the Dargason”. Holst later rearranged this movement for string orchestra, as the final movement of his St Paul's Suite.
“The Irish Washerwoman” is a variant of this tune.