Cakes And Ale: A Song History

← Back to Browse By Song

The round recorded by folk singers as Cakes and Ale is a catch by the English composer Henry Purcell, numbered Z 256 among his works.[1] It is set for three voices and is also known by its opening line, I Gave Her Cakes and I Gave Her Ale.[2] An edition drawn from a copy in the University of Glasgow Library gives it in C major in 6/8 time.[3] It is generally dated to around 1690, though the phrase in its title is far older: it turns up in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, where a tipsy Sir Toby Belch throws it at the sober steward Malvolio.[1]

Painting of a merry company on a terrace, with people eating, drinking and laughing while a young man plays a lute

Jan Steen, Merry Company on a Terrace, oil on canvas, ca. 1670. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown for its subject; it has no connection to the round.

The Traditional Ballad Index describes the words as concerning courting, food and drink.[4] A modern scholarly edition of the catch appears in volume 22a of The Works of Henry Purcell.[5] Scott's English Song Book of 1926 printed it, and while the Traditional Ballad Index knows of no version from oral tradition, it notes that a number of folk performers have recorded it.[4]

Maddy Prior and June Tabor, singing as the Silly Sisters, recorded it unaccompanied on their 1988 album No More to the Dance, and the group Sound Tradition included it on their 2012 CD Under the Moon.[1]

Find books with Cakes And Ale for sale →

Sources

  1. Mainly Norfolk: "Cakes and Ale".
  2. Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL): "I gave her cakes and I gave her ale (Henry Purcell)".
  3. University of Glasgow, To Your Rude Health: Catches, canons and drinking songs: "I gave her cakes (Henry Purcell)".
  4. The Traditional Ballad Index: "I Gave Her Cakes".
  5. VMII: "Z 256 I gave her cakes".