Program Notes

Shepherd’s Hey

Percy Grainger, composer

The tune on which this air is based was collected by Cecil J. Sharp. In some agricultural districts in England, teams of "Morris Men," decked out with jingling bells and other finery, can still be seen dancing to such traditional tunes as "Shepherd’s Hey," which are played on the fiddle or on the "pipe and tabor" (a sort of fife and drum).

—WGM

Shepherd’s Hey is Percy Grainger’s setting for military band of a traditional English Morris Dance tune. In agricultural districts of England, teams of Morris Men, decked out with jingling bells and other finery, can still be seen dancing to Shepherd’s Hey and other traditional tunes played on the fiddle or on the "pipe and tabor" (a sort of fife and drum). Grainger produced this work in 1918 and dedicated it "lovingly and reverently" to the memory of Edvard Grieg.

—published score

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