Regardless of the origin of the Twinkle tune (the overarching ‘family name’ I’m using for tunes related to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star), one country holds the key to its ubiquitous spread throughout Europe: Italy.
Why Italy? Well, in the 17th century, Italy was Europe’s hotspot for aspiring young musicians. Musically talented men from every country were attracted to Italy’s cities, wanting to study with master teachers. Also, Italy produced many of its own master musicians.
During the 17th century, Italy’s first Twinkle tune, Biado’s madrigal Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi, became a favourite of Italy’s gentry class. After it was published in 1600, it was transformed from a vocal work into an instrumental dance. It was replicated several times over in that country’s noble courts and palatial ballrooms over a period of at least 65 years.
By the middle of the 17th century, it was heard and experienced by young musicians-in-training, both Italian and those visiting and studying from all over Europe.
These men were then able to export themselves to nations around the continent for employment in churches and with wealthy nobles.
The tune ‘borrowed a ride’, hitchhiked if you will. Once the tune left Italy, it zigzagged its way from country to country, travelling with Europe’s most mobile class who were almost a class unto themselves: musicians.
Therefore, Italy became the hub of Twinkle’s first ‘super-spreader’ event that transferred the tune to virtually every country on the European continent. Think of a spider web with Italy as its centre, with the web criss-crossing around Europe.
Musicians in new realms heard it, fell in love with it, played it, sang it and passed it on. Then, everywhere they moved, they took the Twinkle tune with them.
In this post we’ll explore three of the earliest-known 17th-century Twinkle variants in countries outside of Italy. These show the direct influence of Italy’s variants.
- England’s ‘An Italian Rant’, published by John Playford in his dancing manual, The English Dancing Master, in 1651.
- Belgium’s ‘Ik zag Cecilia komen’ copied by an anonymous musician into the Ghent Carillon Book sometime between 1661-1693.
- Scotland’s ‘My Mistress is Prettie’, transcribed (from The French Suite by Mr. Mouton) into The Balcarres Lute Book in the late 1600s.
This is Part III of the Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star series. Before you read this instalment, it’s highly recommended that you read all of the instalments thus far, starting with a newly-edited Part I:
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part I: The ultimate guide to this tune in our culture We embark on this multi-part series with an overview that launches the entire body of research. Here is a bird’s-eye view of the full Twinkle journey, which includes possible evidence that this tune is much older than previously believed.
Imagine the children’s game of Telephone, in which players whisper a phrase from ear to ear, down a long chain of people. What’s said in the beginning usually changes by the end. That’s the story of the Twinkle tune. In fact, when you hear the original you may or may not hear the similarity.
17th Century
England: An Italian Rant, John Playford (1651)
England had its earliest iteration of the Twinkle tune In 1651, when it was published in John Playford’s first edition of The English Dancing Master with the title An Italian Rant.
The title indicates that at this point in the music’s spread, the English who played, published and danced to it knew that the music had travelled from Italy. In fact, Playford may have known the travelling musician personally.
An Italian Rant carries forward many features of a second-generation Italian variant, Zanetti’s La Mantovana. If so, this means it took less than six years for a musician to have been exposed to La Mantovana in Italy and carry it to England. Musicologists may even be able to guess who the carrier musician was. It had be someone who was in both Milan and London between the years 1645 and 1651.
Here it is recorded on authentic Baroque instruments.
Like La Mantovana, An Italian Rant has a minor key signature and the five ascending notes at the opening, and notably Zanetti’s simple quarter-eighth rhythm, often with only one repeated pitch per measure.
The B section begins on the upper octave note and descends with the raised “Dorian” note. In this respect, the English variant may have been influenced by other Italian versions, as it has an E-natural in measure 19, and Zanetti’s may have had an E-flat (according to some recordings).
And this version keeps the couplet extension before the A melody returns, which is identical to Zanetti’s couplet.
Belgium: Ik zag Cecilia komen, Anonymous (1661-1693)
The Flemish version of the Twinkle tune, ‘Ik zag Cecilia komen’, is translated I Saw Cecilia Coming. It first appeared in the Ghent Carillon Book, written down between 1661 and 1693.
The Ghent Carillon Book was a compilation of sacred and popular tunes, signifying that ‘Ik zag Cecilia komen’ may have already been widely known at the time the music was arranged for the volume.
This recorded interpretation gives the music a long-short lilt, in 6/8 meter (two beats per measure with three inner pulses per beat). The slower tempo matched with the minor key imbue the music with a tender and melancholic sound. Notice that it begins on an upbeat.
The long-short rhythm, together with the florid melody may suggest a distant influence of Il Ballo di Mantova (the keyboard versions), though admittedly, Ik zag Cecilia komen seems to be a tune completely unto itself.
The next phrase jumps to the upper octave, follows the general melodic plan and employs the raised Dorian note, and yet decorates the tune into something quite unique.
It’s interesting to note that the A tune does not repeat, but goes straight into the B section. This may indicate the influence of a local source of the tune that predates the arrival of the Italian variant, and hearkens to what is to come with the simplification of the music and ABA structure of ‘Ah! vous dirai-je, maman’ (the precursor of ABA in Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star).
Like all known 17th-century versions, Ik zag Cecilia komen retains the two-measure connecting material between the B section and the return of A.
However, this is the first time we hear the four-note descending pattern on the pitches that will eventually become the B section we know in Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (though still in the minor).
In Twinkle’s family tree, it is most likely that Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star descended directly from the culture that produced ‘Ik zag Cecilia komen’. In posts to come, you’ll learn the part that Belgium and surrounding areas played in the emergence of the simplified folk tune.
Scotland: My Mistress is Prettie, Mouton (late 1600s)
The Balcarres Lute Book, which is a late-17th-century Scottish manuscript, gives us My Mistress is Prettie, movement IV in the The French Suite by Mr. Mouton.
According to the notes on a current print edition, “…the Balcarres Lute Book is the largest and most important post-1640 British source of lute music. It contains…settings of native Scots airs and of English popular tunes, and French baroque lute music by mid and later 17th-c masters.”
It is interesting to note that the Scottish manuscript ascribed to the tune a French origin through the French lute master, Mr. Mouton. The fact that the music was borrowed into a French Suite at the end of the 17th century shows that musicians (French, Italian or otherwise) had travelled to France from Italy with the tune and were now applying it in new contexts. From France, the tune then travelled to Scotland.
The Scottish tune is quite compelling. Like ‘O Nederland let op uw saeck’ and ‘Ik zag Cecilia komen’, it begins on an upbeat. This upbeat seems to be a feature that originated in French- and Dutch-speaking regions.
For example, in the B section, it retains the octave leap to the upper key note as well as the descent in the Dorian mode.
The use of neighbouring tones and ornaments are very characteristic of Baroque music.
Several features of the melody of My Mistress is Prettie suggest a musical lineage from a stringed version of Il Ballo de Mantova from Italy (available in my printables section). For example, in the cadence at measure 8, both the Italian and French/Scottish versions have raised leading tone-to-tonic voice leading, and both have C-sharps in measure 19.
It’s also interesting to note that it shares melodic similarities with ‘O Nederland let op uw saeck’, which supports my theory that later French versions were a blending of Italian and Dutch. And what’s more, the Dutch tune may itself have been influenced by an earlier Belgian tune.
One thing is sure, there seems to always be a new version out there waiting to be discovered, which will help uncover the vast and deep story of this amazing tune.
More to explore!
This is the third instalment of a series of blog posts on this seemingly universal melody. Join me as I continue through time and across the European continent (and beyond) in search of more versions and variations.
If you’d like to compare the three melodies mentioned in this post, An Italian Rant, Ik zag Cecilia komen and My Mistress is Prettie, you’ll find the music in my printables section in the section called Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
This melody’s scope of influence cannot be underestimated. It would be difficult to find a child or adult from a western country (or even a country that is influenced by western music) who has not heard, sung or played this tune.
Watch for more!
We embark on this multi-part series with an overview that launches the entire body of research. Did you know that the first version of Twinkle was minor? Here is a bird’s-eye view of the full Twinkle journey. We begin at the beginning. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part I: The ultimate guide to this tune in our culture
Discover the 17th-century Renaissance-to-Baroque Italian versions of one of the world’s most-loved melodies, complete with music samples. Here’s the next chapter of the story as we know it. This music holds clues to the exact Italian versions that influenced contemporary spread across the European continent. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part II: Then there was a madrigal in Italy [Printables]
Musicians took the Italian tune far afield when they travelled Europe for employment. Here is a collection of third generation variants from 17th century Europe. These early international adopters launched a cascade effect of countless iterations of the tune throughout Europe for centuries to come. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part III: Second generation spread throughout 17th-c Europe [Printables]
As the original tune began to transform in folk circles, which features were kept and which were lost? And where in Europe did the original minor tune first become major and begin its transformation into the Twinkle tune we all know? It’s all explored in this post! Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part IV: From minor it branches into the major key [Printables]
Discover the transformation from the original florid melody to the simple tune of France’s Ah! vous dirai-je, maman and composers’ variations on it, beginning with Mozart. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part V: Mozart, a French folk song and beyond [Printables]
In several countries this tune was adopted as a national theme. Compare the versions that emerged. Which features of the original music were retained and how did the music change as it travelled? Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part VI: Twinkle as 19th-c national songs in countries far and wide [Printables]
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star became a source of inspiration of master composers, who borrowed it into their major works. Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Dohnányi and more all fell under its spell. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part VII: Twinkle is borrowed by master composers [Printables] Coming soon!
In time, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star emerged from earlier folk settings and continued to be borrowed into beloved children’s songs in an ever-expanding tradition of folk music. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part VIII: A folk tune becomes children’s songs in many languages [Printables] Coming soon!
Even popular musicians have come under the influence of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and have woven its tune into their melodies. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Part IX: Twinkle is borrowed into popular songs [Printables] Coming soon!
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Video of the Week
Through the Ivy Gate. (Intermediate piano) A fantasy journey of the spirit. What does your ivy gate represent? Where will it lead you? A place you’ve always wanted to go? A journey with a friend you miss? Where in the music do you feel you’re entering the gate? How will you express this? When you return, how will you be transformed? This piece encourages heartfelt playing as the tune and accompaniment meander together. Levels: US, Intermediate. AMEB, Grade 4. ABRSM, Grade 4. RCM, Level 5. Through the Ivy Gate is available as an eSheet!
