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Roses of Picardy
One Hundred Successful Years
Completed in the autumn of 1916 and published that winter, the song Roses of Picardy saw considerable success from spring 1917 onwards in Great Britain and throughout the British Empire; its success was just as great in France when it was published in 1918, before the Armistice. Since then, Roses of Picardy has had countless interpretations by hundreds of vocalists and has been shaped into many instrumental arrangements; over 800 versions have been recorded.
The lecture includes:
- The circumstances in which Fred E. Weatherly and Haydn Wood created the lyrics and the music of Roses of Picardy
- How this ballad embedded itself in the collective memory and even in the personal lives of certain families
- How hearing this love song aroused such contrasting emotions in soldiers during World War I
- The trademark 'Roses de Picardy' used for many commodities
- Roses of Picardy in literature and in films
and the first recordings of the song in English (1917) and in French (1924), plus excerpts of versions in different guises from over the decades.
Gilles Gouset wrote a book in French, Roses de Picardie, Histoire d'une chanson, published in 2005. Since then, the Haydn Wood Music Library and Archive has grown to include about 200 different sheet music arrangements, plus over 500 recordings of Roses of Picardy, and an astounding variety of collectables. To catch a glimpse of this collection, click here.
Duration: approx. 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Equipment needed:
- Media Projector and screen
- Sound amplification
Contact: haydnwoodmusic@yahoo.ca
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