Hot Cross Buns
England Folk Song
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Browse piano sheets by England Folk Song on Zen Virtual Piano. England Folk Song is a traditional-repertoire attribution rather than a person, and here it stands for the song Hot Cross Buns. During the 18th century there was no standard version of the rhyme, which people sang on Good Friday as the buns were sold. Two composers of the time are credited with writing music for it: Samuel Webbe, as a catch, and Luffman Atterbury, as a glee. A rhyme with no standard version in the 18th century, and two composers credited with writing music for it, may point to a rhyme that was set to music in more than one way. The Opies note that the piece began as a street cry, and the tradition of hot cross buns at Eastertide has grown so strong that the piece seems to have passed into tradition. Buns in Sussex, at least, were frequently saved for twelve months as a lucky charm, and the belief was that they never molded. A street cry that has passed into Eastertide tradition, and a rhyme sung on Good Friday as the buns were sold, may suggest that the song and the season have long been linked. Once it moved from the street into the nursery, it came to be used often in music classes and schools for young children trying to master a new instrument, and it still is. Folk music in England was traditionally kept and passed on by voice within communities, but print and later recordings have become the main ways it travels. Two composers credited with writing music for the rhyme, and a tune still used in classrooms today, may suggest a song that has stayed in use across centuries.
Browse piano sheets by England Folk Song on Zen Virtual Piano.
England Folk Song is a traditional-repertoire attribution rather than a person, and here it stands for the song Hot Cross Buns. During the 18th century there was no standard version of the rhyme, which people sang on Good Friday as the buns were sold. Two composers of the time are credited with writing music for it: Samuel Webbe, as a catch, and Luffman Atterbury, as a glee. A rhyme with no standard version in the 18th century, and two composers credited with writing music for it, may point to a rhyme that was set to music in more than one way.
The Opies note that the piece began as a street cry, and the tradition of hot cross buns at Eastertide has grown so strong that the piece seems to have passed into tradition. Buns in Sussex, at least, were frequently saved for twelve months as a lucky charm, and the belief was that they never molded. A street cry that has passed into Eastertide tradition, and a rhyme sung on Good Friday as the buns were sold, may suggest that the song and the season have long been linked.
Once it moved from the street into the nursery, it came to be used often in music classes and schools for young children trying to master a new instrument, and it still is. Folk music in England was traditionally kept and passed on by voice within communities, but print and later recordings have become the main ways it travels. Two composers credited with writing music for the rhyme, and a tune still used in classrooms today, may suggest a song that has stayed in use across centuries.
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England Folk Song
Common questions
It is a traditional credit rather than a person, band or pseudonym, and here it stands for Hot Cross Buns.
The Opies note that it began as a street cry. In the 18th century it was sung on Good Friday to go with the selling of the buns, and it later made the transition to nursery use.
Samuel Webbe and Luffman Atterbury are credited with writing music for it, Webbe as a catch and Atterbury as a glee.
Once it moved from the street into the nursery, it came to be used often in music classes and schools for young children trying to master a new instrument.