Sellenger's Round arranged for Recorder and Keyboard by Jim Paterson

Sellenger's Round (sometimes spelled Sellinger's Rownde) is an old Folk Dance melody (sometimes called "The Beginning of the World"). It is thought to have originated in Ireland and it became very popular in England in the 16th century. The composer William Byrd wrote a set of variations on the melody for the Virginal, a keyboard instrument similar to a small harpsichord, and this version has been preserved in a couple of hand-written collections held in English museums: the "Fitzwilliam Virginal Book" and "My Ladye Nevells Booke", and other later classical composers have also used the melody. The first section of Byrd's Virginal version is also available on mfiles, but the arrangement presented here goes back to the Folk Dance roots of the tune. A "Round" is a dance where the dancers form a circle, and the tune continues to be used by dance troops who perform English folk dances including Morris and Maypole style dancing.

This Folk Dance arrangement is for Recorder and Keyboard. For Download here are PDF versions of the Recorder Part and the Full Score which can be used by the keyboard player. You can also download MIDI and MP3 files for personal use using the links in the left-hand menu. Below is a piano roll animation of the music, and below that you can play the mp3 file or see the sheet music score.