This edition was prepared by David Anderson — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Going a maying
Staff Notation • Secular, Partsongs
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2 editions of this piece
Different typesettings and voicings of the same work. This page shows the main edition; the others are below.
SATB · James Gibb
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Going a maying by John Liptrot Hatton — Lyrics
In the merry month of May,
In a morn by break of day,
With a troop of damsels playing,
Forth I went forsooth a maying.
Where anon by a wood side,
Where as May was in his pride,
I espied all alone,
Phillida and Corydon.
Much ado there was, God wot!
He would love, and she would not,
She said, never man was true,
He says none was false to you;
In the merry month of May,
In a morn by break of day,
With a troop of damsels playing,
Forth I went forsooth a maying.
He said he had loved her long;
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About Going a maying
The text of John Liptrot Hatton’s Going a maying paints a lively pastoral scene in the merry month of May, as the narrator joins a group of damsels for the traditional outing. They chance upon Phillida and Corydon, a shepherd and shepherdess, engaged in a playful debate about love. The secular SATB partsong captures the lighthearted and slightly flirtatious mood of the Elizabethan-era lyrics, which speak of love's first stirrings and the innocence of country courtship. Hatton’s setting would have been ideal for amateur choral societies of the late 19th century, offering a charming and accessible glimpse into rural tradition and romance.
