Greensleeves piano notes: letters and easy sheet music

Greensleeves: questions people ask

What are the letter notes of Greensleeves?

The first notes, with their octave numbers, are G4 B♭4 C5 D5 E5 D5 C5 A4 F4 G4 A4 B♭4. Every note of the whole tune is in the table above, one bar per row (middle C is C4, the C nearest the middle of the keyboard; the next C up is C5).

What key and time signature is Greensleeves in?

On this page it is in G minor (two flats), in 6/8: six eighth notes to the bar, counted as two beats of three eighth notes (1-2-3, 4-5-6). G minor has two flats, B♭ and E♭. The score used here is written in G with the tune on the notes G, B♭, C, D, E, F and F♯, so the E♭ of the key signature is never played: every E in the tune is written with a natural sign.

Why are there sharps, flats or naturals that are not in the key signature?

The key signature of G minor gives two flats. In this tune the notes are written with an accidental sign (E♮ and F♯): bar 1: E♮5; bar 3: F♯4; bar 4: F♯4; bar 5: E♮5; bar 7: F♯4 E♮4; bar 9: E♮5; bar 11: F♯4; bar 12: F♯4; and more. A sharp, flat or natural sign before a note applies to that note for the rest of the bar.

Which hand plays what, and how high and low does it go?

The range is D4 to F5, 15 semitones; 27.4% of the first vocal lines in the OpenScore Lieder Corpus have a smaller range and 61.3% a larger one. The tune spans 10 letter names, from D4 to F5, more than an octave, so the hand has to travel along the keyboard.

Is this the whole of Greensleeves?

Yes, for the tune: the 16 bars and the pick-up are the whole melody of one verse with its refrain. The Chinese Wikipedia score marks the four phrases A, A′, B and B′: the verse is the first two phrases (bars 1 to 8) and the refrain the last two (bars 9 to 16). The words are not printed on this page.

Is Greensleeves free to print and share?

The ballad was registered at the London Stationers’ Company in September 1580, according to Wikipedia, and the tune is traditional, so it is far out of copyright. The notes are read from the score printed in the Chinese Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0), so the sheets carry that credit line and may be printed and shared under the same licence. Modern arrangements and recordings have their own rights.

How do I know the notes are right?

The melody is read by a program from Wikipedia in Chinese, "綠袖子" (score 1 in the article), never typed in. A second program then compares it, note by note and in order, with 4 other sources: another Mutopia edition (94% of its notes); another Mutopia edition (86% of its notes); MIDI file “Greensleeves” (100% of its notes); MIDI file “Greensleeves Correct Melody” (100% of its notes). 2 of the 4 agree with this page on every pitch. Where they differ, the page lists every note and bar, so you can see the difference.

Did Henry VIII write Greensleeves?

Wikipedia calls it a common myth. It says Henry could not have written it, because the piece is based on an Italian style of composition that did not reach England until after his death. The earliest firm date is September 1580, when a broadside ballad “A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves” was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationers’ Company.

Is the Greensleeves tune the same as What Child Is This?

Yes. Wikipedia says Greensleeves is the tune of the Christmas carol “What Child Is This?”. The notes on this page are the tune only, so they also play the carol; the words of both are not printed here.

Why do the sources disagree on a few notes?

The tune exists in more than one form. This page follows the score in the Chinese Wikipedia article, which agrees with both MIDI files on every pitch. The soprano of the Mutopia hymn tune writes E♭ where this page has E in bars 1, 5 and 13 and has no matching note for the F♯ of bar 4, and the voice melody of the Mutopia guitar arrangement writes F instead of F♯ in bars 3, 4, 11, 12 and 15. Both are listed note by note in the check table, so you can choose the version you know; the sheets print the version above.