My Robin Is to the Greenwood Gone

Percy Aldridge Grainger

Traditional English Tune, 1912 setting by Percy Aldridge Grainger (arr. Fred Strum)

General Info

Year: 1912 / 1999
Duration: c. 7:35
Difficulty: III-1/2 (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Various settings
Publisher: Alfred Music Publishing
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $100.00   |   Score Only (print) - $20.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe
English Horn
Bassoon
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet (optional)
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Flugelhorn
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Percussion I-II-III, including:

• Bass Drum
• Bells
• Snare Drum
• Suspended Cymbals (3: small, medium and large)
• Vibraphone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

This delightful early setting by Percy Grainger, using only the first four measures of a popular English song, contains many of the melodic and harmonic twists and turns that we associate with his music of later years. Fred Sturm's new scoring for wind ensemble brilliantly brings to life this Percy Grainger masterwork.

- Program Note from Forsyth

Dedicated to Fred G. "Prof" Schroeder.

- Program Note from score

My Robin Is to the Greenwood Gone or Bonny Sweet Robin is an English popular tune from the Renaissance.

The earliest extant score of the ballad appears in William Ballet's Lute Book (c. 1600) as Robin Hood is to the Greenwood Gone. References to the song can be dated back to 1586, in a letter from Sir Walter Raleigh to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester saying "The Queen is in very good terms with you now, and, thanks be to God, will be pacified, and you are again her Sweet Robin."

Although the words have been lost, it is suspected that the character Ophelia, of Hamlet (who is specified in the First Quarto to be a lutenist), sings the last line of the tune ("For bonny sweet Robin is all my Joy") during her madness (IV, v, 187). Some scholars believe that Shakespeare's choice of the song was meant to invoke phallic symbolism.

More recently, the song inspired Percy Grainger's "music room rambling" (as he described it) for which he wrote three instrumentations: solo piano; violin, cello and piano; and strings, flute and English horn.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Media

• Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown
• Audio CD: Creekview High School Wind Symphony (Preston Hazzard, conductor)
• Audio CD: United States Army Field Band (Donald Hunsberger, conductor) – 2003

State Ratings

• Louisiana: III

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Creekview High School (Carrollton, Tx.) Wind Symphony (Preston Hazzard, conductor) – 16 December 2011 (2011 Midwest Clinic)
• United States Army Field Band (Washington, D.C.) II (Donald Hunsberger, conductor) – 17 December 2003 (2003 Midwest Clinic)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

• Irish Tune from County Derry (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Klarfeld) (1918/2014/2020)
• Molly on the Shore (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Sheehan) (1920/2020)
• O Mensch, Bewein' Dein Sünde Gross (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger; ed. Brand and Brion) (1724?/1937-1942/1987)
• Prelude in the Dorian Mode (Flex instrumentation) (as scorer)
• Shepherd's Hey (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Fisher) (1918/2020)
• Two Movements from "Lincolnshire Posy" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Sweeney) (1937/2019)

All Wind Works

• Angelus ad Virginem (as arranger) (1940s)
• The Annunciation Carol
• The Annunciation Carol (tr. Grainger) (13th Cent./1942/1993)
• Arrival Platform Humlet (arr. Eichenberger) (1912/)
• Arrival Platform Humlet (tr. Simpson) (1912/1916/1995)
• Arrival Platform Humlet (tr. Patterson) (1916/2011)
• Australian Up-Country Tune (arr. Bainum) (1930/1970)
• Bell Piece (ed. Duffy and Ould) (1935/1953/1991)
• Blithe Bells (1931)
• Blithe Bells (arr. Jager) (1931/1989)
• Blithe Bells (ed. Ould) (1931/2013)
• A Bridal Lullaby (arr. Hartley)
• Brigg Fair (arr. Ballenger) (1905/1991)
• British Waterside (arr. Moss) (1921)
• British Waterside (arr. Wilson) (1921/1998)
• Children's March (rev. Erickson) (1919/1971)
• Children's March (rev. Rogers) (1919/1995)
• Children's March (arr. Wagner) (1919/2000)
• Choral No 2 for Organ (as scorer; ed. Rogers) (1890/1941/20--?)
• Colonial Song (1912/1918)
• Colonial Song (ed. Rogers) (1918/1997)
• Colonial Song (ed. Topolewski) (1918/2001)
• Colonial Song (arr. Wagner) (1919/2014)
• Country Gardens (1918/1990)
• Country Gardens (arr. Sousa, Brion and Schissel) (1918/1953)
• Country Gardens (arr. Karrick) (1918/2013)
• Country Gardens (arr. Clark) (1918/1931)
• County Derry Air (ed. Ould)
• The Cutting of the Hay (arr. Wilson)
• Danish Folk Music Suite (arr. Kreines) (1926-41/1950/)
• Danny Deever (arr. Carpenter)
• Danny Deever (tr. Ragsdale). See: Three Tragic Ballads
• Died for Love
• Died for Love (arr. Conway) (1912/2011?)
• Down Longford Way & Shenandoah (as orchestrator; arr. Osmon) (1928/1935/1990)
• The Duke of Marlborough Fanfare (1939)
• The Duke of Marlborough Fanfare (ed. Hunsberger) (1939/2000)
• The Duke of Marlborough Fanfare (arr. Ragsdale) (1939/1995)
• Early One Morning (arr. Kreines). See: Two Grainger Melodies
• Eastern Intermezzo (arr. Warshaw) (1899/1922/)
• Faeroe Island Dance (1946//1954/1969)
• Father and Daughter. See: Three Tragic Ballads
• Folk Tune (as arranger) (1923/1942)
• Four Grainger Songs (arr. Svanoe) (2003) (unpublished)
• Gay but Wistful (tr. Patterson) (1916/2011)
• Gay But Wistful. See also: Tune in a Popular London Style
• A Grainger Threesome (arr. Ragsdale) (2007)
• Green Bushes (1906/2007) (tr. Pappajohn)
• Green Bushes. See also: Themes from "Green Bushes"
• Gumsucker's March (arr. Rogers) (1914/1942/1996)
• Handel in the Strand (arr. Brion and Schissel) (1912/2001)
• Handel in the Strand (arr. Goldman) (1912/1961)
• Handel in the Strand (arr. Rohrer) (1912/2015)
• Harlem 125th Street Walkabout (arr. Hartley)
• Harvest Hymn (tr. Kreines) (1940/1983)
• Hill Song No. 1 (1902)
• Hill Song No. 1 (adapt. Rogers) (1901/1922/1923/1997)
• Hill-Song Nr. 1 (trans. Clark) (1901/1922/1923/2019)
• Hill Song No. 2 (arr. Rogers) (1907/1929/1990)
• Horkstow Grange from "Lincolnshire Posy" (adapt. Sweeney) (1937/2008)
• The Hunter in His Career (arr. Robinson)
• The Immovable Do (1940)
• I'm Seventeen Come Sunday (tr. Daehn) (1905-12/1987)
• I'm Seventeen Come Sunday (arr. Wagner) (1905-12/1999)
• In a Nutshell (tr. Patterson) (1916/2011)
• In Dahomey (arr. Miller)
• Irish Tune (arr. Stotter) (1918)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (1918)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (arr. Clark and Schmidt) (1918/2001)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (arr. Erickson) (1918/1970)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Klarfeld) (1918/2014/2020)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (arr. Kreines) (1918/1996)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (ed. Renshaw) (1918)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (ed. Rogers) (1918/1994)
• Irish Tune from County Derry/Shepherd's Hey (tr. Stamp) (1918/2021)
• The Jungle Book Suite (arr. Ragsdale) (2011)
• Jutish Medley (arr. Kreines) (1923-1929/)
• Lads of Wamphray March (1905/1941)
• Lads of Wamphray March (ed. Kreines) (1905/1937/2003)
• Lads of Wamphray Ballad (arr. Ragsdale) (1905/2018)
• Lincolnshire Posy (1937/1940)
• Lincolnshire Posy (ed. Fennell) (1937/1987/2010)
• Lincolnshire Posy (ed. Fennell; rev. Rogers) (1937/1987/2010/2020)
• Lincolnshire Posy (arr. Higgins) (1937/2008)
• Lincolnshire Posy (arr. Osika) (1937/)
• Lisbon from "Lincolnshire Posy" (adapt. Sweeney) (1937/2017)
• Lord Maxwell's Goodnight (orch. Wilson)
• Lord Peter's Stable Boy (1925/1930)
• Lord Peter's Stable Boy (arr. Kreines)
• Lost Lady Found (arr. Sweeney) (1937/2011)
• March (as arranger) (1946)
• Marching Song of Democracy (1917/1948/1991)
• Marching Song of Democracy (ed. Brion) (1917/1948/1991)
• Marching Tune (2013) (arr. Story)
• The Merry King (ed. Schissel) (1905/2006)
• Mock Morris (arr. Kreines) (1910/1991)
• Mock Morris (arr. Patterson) (1910/ )
• Mock Morris (arr. Perna) (1910/2010/2016)
• Mock Morris (arr. Simpson) (2010/1993)
• Molly on the Shore (ed. Rogers) (1920/1998)
• Molly on the Shore (ed. Clark and Schmidt) (1920/2002)
• Molly on the Shore (arr. Johnston) (1920/2011)
• Molly on the Shore (tr. Ragsdale) (1920/1978)
• My Dark-Haired Maid (ed. Ragsdale) (1899)
• My Robin Is to the Greenwood Gone (arr. Strum) (1912/1999)
• Near Woodstock Town (arr. Cramer) (2004)
• Nightingale and the Two Sisters, The (arr. Kreines) (1931)
• Northern March. See: Youthful Suite
• O Mensch, Bewein' Dein Sünde Gross (Flex instrumentation) (setting) (1724?/1937-1942/1987)
• Pagodes from "Estampes" (as arranger) (1903/1928/1996)
• A Percy Grainger Portrait (arr. Wagner) (2010)
• Percy Grainger Suite (arr. Kreines) (1983)
• A Percy Grainger Suite (arr. Erickson) (1996)
• The Power of Rome and the Christian Heart (1947/1953)
• Prelude in the Dorian Mode (Flex instrumentation) (as scorer)
• Scotch Strathspey and Reel (arr. Osmon) (1901-1911/1982)
• Sehet was die liebe tut (as arranger) (1937)
• Sheep Shearing Song (as arranger) (1904/1923/1942/2017)
• Shenandoah (arr. Osmon)
• Shepherd's Hey (1918)
• Shepherd's Hey (arr. Clark) (1918/2001)
• Shepherd's Hey (ed. Rogers) (1918/1994)
• Shepherd's Hey (arr. De Stefano) (1918/2012)
• Shepherd's Hey (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Fisher) (1918/2020)
• Spoon River (1919-29/1940s)
• Spoon River (arr. Bainum) (1922/1967/2009)
• Spoon River (ed. Carson & Naylor) (1922/2010)
• Spoon River (arr. Sheldon) (1922)
• Spoon River (arr. Story) (1922/2014)
• Six Dukes Went A-Fishin' (arr. Kreines)
• The Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol (scored Goldman) (1916/1965)
• The Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol (arr. Clark) (1916/1996)
• The Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol (arr. Simpson) (1916/1988)
• The Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol (arr. Stotter) (1911/1916/2006)
• Themes from "Green Bushes" (arr. L. Daehn) (1906/1987)
• This is Not My Plaid (arr. Ragsdale) (2014)
• The Three Ravens. see: Three Tragic Ballads
• Three Tragic Ballads (arr. Ragsdale) (1924, 1902, 1909/2016)
  • Danny Deever (1902/1909/2016)
  • The Three Ravens (1902/2000)
  • Father and Daughter
• A Tribute to Grainger (arr. Ragsdale) (1999)
• Tune in a Popular London Style (arr. Rogers) (1916/2005)
• Tuscan Serenade (as arranger) (1865/1937/1994)
• Two Grainger Melodies (trans. Kreines) (1912/1988)
• Two Grainger Sweets - Harvest Hymn and Mock Morris (arr. Krienes)
• Two Movements from "Lincolnshire Posy" (arr. Ryan) (1937/2019)
• Two Movements from "Lincolnshire Posy" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Sweeney) (1937/2019)
• Walking Tune (1900)
• Walking Tune (arr. Daehn) (1900/1940/1988)
• Walking Tune (arr. Simpson)
• The Warriors (tr. Pappajohn) (1916/1998)
• We Have Fed Our Sea for a Thousand Years (1911)
• The Widow's Party (arr. Moon) (1923/1929/2011)
• The Widow's Party (arr. Osmon) (1923/1929/2009)
• Willow, Willow (1911/1992) (orch. Simpson)
• Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon (1949)
• Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon (arr. Ragsdale) (1903/1936/2008)
• Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon (arr. Sweeney) (1949/2006)
• Youthful Suite (tr. Rogers) (1899/1950)
  • Northern March (arr. Rogers) (c. 1900/2010)
  • Rustic Dance (1899/1950/2010)
  • Eastern Intermezzo
  • English Waltz (1899-1901/1940-1947/1999)
• Zanzibar Boat Song (arr. Hazzard) (1902/2013)

Resources

• "Grainger, P, arr. Strum, F - My Robin Is To The Greenwood Gone." Forsyth. Web. Accessed 17 June 2021
• "My Robin Is to the Greenwood Gone (Grainger, Percy)." IMLP. Web. Accessed 17 June 2021
• My Robin Is to the Greenwood Gone, Wikipedia Accessed 17 June 2021
• Percy Grainger website Accessed 17 June 2021