 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "My bonny lass she smileth" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
My bonny lass she smileth is a famous English ballett, written by Thomas Morley and published in 1595 in his First Book of Balletts to Five Voices. A ballett was the English form of the Italian balletto, a light, homophonic, strophic song for three or more singers, distinguished by dance-like rhythms and "fa-la-la" refrains. It is based on an Italian madrigal, published by Gastoldi in 1591 (see ref 1 and supporting recording). The ChoralWiki gives the following words for the two opening verses.
- My bonny lass she smileth,
- when she my heart beguileth.
- Fa la la la...
- Smile less, dear love, therefore,
- and you shall love me more.
- Fa la la la...
The song was parodied by Peter Schickele (https://www.schickele.com/composition/twomadrigals.htm) (writing as P.D.Q. Bach) as:
- My bonny lass she smelleth
- Making the flowers jealouth.
- Fa la la la...
The ballett is of form AABB and is in mode 7, the Mixolydian.
References
Phillip Ledger (ed) The Oxford Book of English Madrigals (1978) Oxford University Press, and co-issued recording, by Pro Cantione Antiqua
 | This song-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |