Marshall's Meadows: A Song History
"Marshall's Meadows" is one of twelve titles in Ellen Pratt's Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 6, a book Pratt publishes herself and which DulcimerDownloads sells as a licensed download.[1] Its four parts are divided between two tunings: the first and third dulcimer parts are in DAD, while the second dulcimer part and the back-up chords are in DGD.[1] Several other pieces in the volume add a baritone part in ADA, but none of them combines DAD and DGD parts, and Pratt's own contents page marks the split, listing the piece in 4/4 time with its tuning "depending on your part."[1][2]
Francis Seymour Haden, A Water Meadow, etching, 1859. A meadow shown for the title; it has no connection to the tune.
That contents page credits several other pieces to Arbeau, Bach, Pachelbel or tradition, and one to Pratt by name, but it attaches no composer to "Marshall's Meadows," and the DulcimerDownloads listing credits none either.[1][2] Pratt's store page says the book holds both original and traditional material, yet the sources consulted here do not say which kind this piece is, who Marshall was, or where the meadows of the title lie.[2] Her DulcimerDownloads biography says she began composing for the dulcimer around 2004 and turned to ensemble writing after joining a dulcimer orchestra in northeastern Connecticut.[3]
Sources
- Ellen Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 6".
- Ellen S. Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements for Mountain Dulcimer Volume 6".
- DulcimerDownloads: "Ellen Pratt".
- Image: Francis Seymour Haden, A Water Meadow, etching, 1859. The Cleveland Museum of Art.