Cries for Voices and Viols - Choir Script PDF Thumbnail
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Edition by Willem Verkaik
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Added Jul 29, 2026
Composer: Thomas Weelkes
Format: Staff
Language: English
Pages: 23 pages
This edition was prepared by Willem Verkaik — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.

Cries for Voices and Viols by Thomas Weelkes — Lyrics

New oysters, new Wallfleet oysters; new mussels, new lilywhite mussels; new cockels, new great cockels, new; new sprats, new sprats, new great sprats, new; new plaice, plaice, plaice, new plaice, new; new mackerel, mackerel, mackerel; new haddock, haddock, haddock, new; new thornback, new; quick periwinkles, quick; quick eels, quick, quick, quick. Hot apple pies, hot; hot pudding pies, hot. hot pippin pies, hot; hot mutton pies, hot. Apples fine, pears fine, medlars fine, pippins fine, cherry ripe! Ripe strawberry, ripe; fine Seville oranges, fine lemons, fine; fine pomegranates, fine. Ripe chestnuts, ripe, ripe walnuts, ripe; ripe walnuts, ripe. A good sausage, a good, and it be well roasted; go round about the capon, go round. O yez! If any man or woman, city or country, that can tell any tidings of a black mare with a white tail, having but three legs and both her eyes out, with a great hole in her arse and there your snout. If there be any that can tell me any tidings of this mare, let him bring word to the Crier, and he shall be well rewarded for his labour, and God's blessing, and God's blessing.
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About Cries for Voices and Viols

Thomas Weelkes’s Cries for Voices and Viols is a delightful English secular consort song for solo soprano. The music vividly conjures the calls of street vendors selling their wares, from fresh oysters and mussels to hot pies and ripe fruits. Weelkes masterfully uses the vocal line to paint a sonic picture of the bustling marketplace, with quick runs and repeated calls mimicking the cries of the sellers. The accompanying viols would likely have provided a rhythmic and harmonic bed, enhancing the lively and colourful atmosphere. This piece offers a charming glimpse into Elizabethan London and the sounds that filled its streets.