Early Crocus Waltz: A Song History
"Early Crocus Waltz" is one of the twelve pieces in Ellen Pratt's Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 5, which DulcimerDownloads sells as a licensed download published by Pratt herself; the listing gives the waltz four dulcimer parts, all in DAD tuning.[1] On Pratt's own contents page for the volume, it appears in 3/4 time with no composer named beside it.[2] Pratt has played the dulcimer for more than twenty years, started writing her own tunes around 2004, and dates her ensemble writing and arranging to the period after she joined a dulcimer orchestra in northeastern Connecticut.[3] None of the sources consulted here says who wrote this waltz, or when or why it was written.[1][2][3]
Crocus, folio 34 (recto), from Florilegium (A Book of Flower Studies), watercolor, ink, silver, and gold over occasional traces of pencil, on vellum, 1608. Shown for its crocuses; it has no connection to the tune.
Crocuses, the flowers named in the title, belong to the iris family and grow from underground corms; Britannica gives their native range as the Alps, southern Europe and the Mediterranean, and notes that many are grown for blooms that open in early spring or in fall.[4] The University of Arkansas's extension service calls the snow crocus (Crocus chrysanthus) one of the smallest crocus species, says it flowers in late winter over a span of about four weeks, and notes that crocuses generally bloom while late-winter snow may still be on the ground.[5]
Sources
- Ellen Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 5".
- Ellen S. Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements for Mountain Dulcimer Volume 5".
- DulcimerDownloads: "Ellen Pratt".
- Britannica: "Crocus".
- University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture: "Plant of the Week: Snow Crocus".
- Image: Crocus, folio 34 (recto), from Florilegium (A Book of Flower Studies), watercolor, ink, silver, and gold over occasional traces of pencil, on vellum, 1608. The Cleveland Museum of Art.