With Hey, Ho, The Wind and the Rain
From Incidental Music to William Shakespeare’s TWELFTH NIGHT OR, WHAT YOU WILL
For Tenor (Feste) And harpsichord (or piano)
This short song Feste’s Hey, Ho, the Wind and the Rain is an excerpt from the incidental music I wrote for the 2004/5 Cincinnati Playhouse in the Parks/NEA Shakespeare in American Communities production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night Director John Greenleaf requested that the music be based on Bach’s Goldberg Variations, you can hear a short quotation before the last stanza near the end of the song, which made for a fun assignment. The tour ran from January through February 2005 and visiting 25 schools and was seen by over 9,000 students in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia. I slightly adapted it to make it more of a concert piece.
When that I was and a little tiny boy, 1390
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, A foolish thing was but a toy, For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came to man's estate, With hey, ho, &c.
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate, For the rain, &c.
But when I came, alas! to wive, With hey, ho, &c.
By swaggering could I never thrive, 1400 For the rain, &c.
But when I came unto my beds, With hey, ho, &c. With toss-pots still had drunken heads, For the rain, &c.
A great while ago the world begun, With hey, ho, &c.
But that's all one, our play is done, And we'll strive to please you every day. Exit 1410
rain itraineth - ever-y day.
But when I came, to Menomosso,with deliberationq=74
Menomosso,with deliberationq=74 Feste Hpsd.
With hey, ho, the
strive to please you ever y - day.
Broadly q.=40
andwe'llstrive to please you
Broadly q.=40