Greensleeves is a traditional English folk song. There is a belief that Greensleeves was composed by King Henry VIII for his lover and future queen consort Anne Boleyn. Boleyn allegedly rejected King Henry's first attempts to seduce her and this rejection may be referred to in the song.
Greensleeves is a traditional English folksong. There is a belief that Greensleeves was composed by King Henry VIII for his lover and future queen consort Anne Boleyn. Boleyn allegedly rejected King Henry's first attempts to seduce her and this rejection may be referred to in the song. However, the piece is also based on an Italian style of composition that did not reach England until after Henry's death, making it more likelyt hat the work is Elizabethan in its origin. The tune is found in several late-16th-century and early-17th-century manuscripts preserved in the Seeley Historical Library at the University of Cambridge. Christmas and New Year texts were associated with the tune from as early as 1686, and by the 19th century most collections of Christmas carols featured endings that used the refrain "On Christmas Day in the morning". In some parts of the world, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, "Greensleeves" is the popular tune used to advertise the arrival of mobile ice cream vans. Ralph Vaughan Williams composed a Fantasia based on Greensleeves.
