untitled [setting of "'Dancing on the hill-tops'"] [Mary Carmichael]

untitled [setting of "'Dancing on the hill-tops'"] [Mary Carmichael]

First line of lyrics: Dancing on the hill-tops

Part of: "Sing-Song: 27 Nursery Rhymes selected from the volume by Christina Rossetti"

Carmichael, Mary Grant; music (British, 1851-1935)

Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)

1884 [publication], 1900 [reprinting]

London: Stanley Lucas, Weber & Co.; London: Augener Ltd.; Paris: Mac Eshig; Boston: Boston Music Co.

genre: song|children's music|song cycle

solo: voice

chorus: children's unison chorus

instrumentation: piano

initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats

initial time signature: 2/4

origin: United Kingdom

female composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "'Dancing on the hill-tops'"

Place in the larger work: The twenty-seventh song of twenty-seven in a song cycle called "Sing-Song: 27 Nursery Rhymes selected from the volume by Christina Rossetti," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The untitled songs include 1. [setting of "'Ferry me across the water'"]; 2. [setting of "'What will you give me for my pound?'"]; 3. [setting of "'Mix a pancake'"]; 4. [setting of "'Growing in the vale'"]; 5. [setting of "'Wrens and robins in the hedge'"]; 6. [setting of "'Hopping frog, hop here and be seen'"]; 7. [setting of "'The days are clear'"]; 8. [setting of "'Mother shake the cherry-tree'"]; 9. [setting of "'Three plum buns'"]; 10. [setting of "'A white hen sitting'"]; 11. [setting of "'Who has seen the wind?'"]; 12. [setting of "'O sailor, come ashore'"]; 13. [setting of "'The peach tree on the southern wall'"]; 14. [setting of "'If the moon came from heaven'"]; 15. [setting of "'Lullaby, oh lullaby!'"]; 16. [setting of "'Fly away, fly away over the sea'"]; 17. [setting of "'All the bells were ringing'"]; 18. [setting of "'A pocket handkerchief to hem'"]; 19. [setting of "'Love me,—I love you'"]; 20. [setting of "'Wee wee husband'"]; 21. [setting of "'If I were a Queen'"]; 22. [setting of "'Eight o'clock'"]; 23. [setting of "'A house of cards'"]; 24. [setting of "'If a pig wore a wig'"]; 25. [setting of "'Pussy has a whiskered face'"]; 26. [setting of "'A diamond or a coal?'"]; 27. [setting for "'Dancing on the hill-tops'"].

Composition history: The first known setting of “Sing-Song”. "In December 1877, Carmichael, introduced to the Rossettis by Theo Marzials, had 'borrowed of us, with a view to musical setting, Christina’s Combined Poems, & Singsong' (WMRD [William Michael Rossetti Diary]). In June 1878, WMR [William Michael Rossetti] recorded another visit, at which Carmichael brought with her a 'Miss Green' who sang four of Carmichael’s settings from Sing-Song: 'The Ferry, Shillings in Pound &c, Wind, & Lullaby: the later 2 I liked particularly'; later that month, WMR [William Michael Rossetti] gave Carmichael “a note to Edmund Routledge” to assist her in securing publication of the settings, apparently to no avail." (Ives DM64)

Tempo markings: "Con moto."

Notes: Key in C

Format 1: musical score

In reference to the published works below: Ives DM80

Reference: Ives, Maura. Christina Rossetti: A Descriptive Bibliography. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2011.

Other data reference(s): Record for "Sing-song. 27 nursery rhymes / [Words by] Christina Rossetti. Voice & piano." British Library, http://explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP-ALL:BLL01014974911. Accessed 23 June 2020.

Cataloguer: Roxanne Lafleur, University of Ottawa

Record: CRM-dancingonthehilltops-carmichael

The Christina Rossetti in Music project website is hosted in Canada at the University of Ottawa Library, and we aim to comply with Canadian copyright laws. If you believe we have violated Canadian copyright law, please contact us at christinarossettimusic@uottawa.ca. The Christina Rossetti in Music project is strictly not for profit and intended for research and educational purposes only.