Composer Howard Rowe, Jr. is a resident of Fairport,
NY and has earned degrees in music education from Syracuse University and
Ithaca College. Mr. Rowe taught music
at all levels for 32 years in the Rush-Henrietta Central School System. He is the composer or arranger of over 70
published works for jazz and concert band, orchestra and various
ensembles. He is the recipient of
several awards including the ASCAP Standards Award and the Rochester
Philharmonic Outstanding Music Educator Award.
Cromwell was dead
and laid in his grave…….
An apple tree grew right over
his head…….
Soon all the apples started
to fall…..
There came an old woman
picking them up…..
Cromwell jumped up and gave
her a hump…..
It made the old woman go
hippledehop…..
That such a silly song could be sung
about such an austere historical figure as Cromwell is puzzling. Perhaps it arises from the circumstances of
his postmortem execution and subsequent rumors that the corpse that had been
hanged and decapitated was not that of Cromwell; that he had foreseen possible
desecration of his grave and had secretly issued instructions to be buried in a
pasture where his remains would lie undisturbed; and that the corpse exhumed
for the execution was that of an unknown person of similar appearance.
In any case, this song is fun to sing
and play. It subsequently made its way
to Midwestern America. Rather than
“Cromwell”, the Americans sing about “Robin”, “Roger” or “Pompey” in various
versions. This composition for strings
is a set of variations on this old English folksong.
From the Rennaissance arr. by Michael Levi. $50 3:45
This provides valuable exposure
to counterpoint from the high rennaissance and is transcribed from two pieces: Diffusa est
Gratia
by Giovanni Nanino and Kyrie from Missa Secundo by Hans Leo Hassler.