Moseley's Ridge: A Song History
Ellen Pratt's Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 7 gathers twelve pieces, "Moseley's Ridge" among them; Pratt publishes the book herself, and DulcimerDownloads sells it as a licensed PDF download.[1] The listing's song list divides it into five parts: four in DAD tuning, with the third written for standard or bass dulcimer and the fourth as a chord backup, plus a fifth for baritone dulcimer tuned ADA.[1] The book's contents page, pictured on the same listing, sets the piece in 6/8 time on pages 65 to 74.[1] Of all the titles in the volume, it is the one the description picks out by name, as "the always popular 'Moseley's Ridge'," though it does not say where or among whom it became popular.[1]
Jacob van Ruisdael, Wooded and Hilly Landscape, oil on canvas, 1660s. A Dutch hill landscape shown for the title, not Moseley's Ridge itself; it has no connection to the piece.
The sources consulted here leave its authorship open: the DulcimerDownloads listing presents the volume as a blend of traditional and classical material alongside some new compositions, and Pratt's own store page offers it to players of every level with a mix of original and traditional settings, yet neither names who wrote this piece.[1][2] Pratt's DulcimerDownloads biography dates her first dulcimer compositions to around 2004 and links her turn to ensemble writing with joining a dulcimer orchestra in northeastern Connecticut.[3] Nothing in the sources consulted here locates a Moseley's Ridge or accounts for the name.[1][2][3]
Sources
- Ellen Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 7".
- Ellen S. Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements for Mountain Dulcimer Volume 7".
- DulcimerDownloads: "Ellen Pratt".
- Image: Jacob van Ruisdael, Wooded and Hilly Landscape, oil on canvas, 1660s. The Cleveland Museum of Art.