Melody
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is sung to the French melody "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman".
| "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" | |
|---|---|
| Nursery rhyme | |
| Published | 1806 |
| Lyricist(s) | Jane Taylor |
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is an English lullaby. The lyrics are from an early-19th-century English poem written by Jane Taylor, "The Star". [1] The poem, which is in couplet form, was first published in 1806 in Rhymes for the Nursery , a collection of poems by Taylor and her sister Ann. It is now sung to the tune of the French melody "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman", which was first published in 1761 and later arranged by several composers, including Mozart with Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman". [2] The English lyrics have five stanzas, although only the first is widely known. The song is in the public domain. [3]
Where Jane Taylor was when she wrote the lyric is contested, with the localities of Colchester and Chipping Ongar each asserting a claim. However, Ann Taylor writes (in The Autobiography and Other Memorials of Mrs. Gilbert) that the first time Jane ever saw the village of Ongar was in 1810, and the poem had been published in 1806. "In the summer of 1810, Jane, when visiting London, had enjoyed a pic-nic excursion in Epping Forest, and observed on a sign post at one of the turnings, 'To Ongar.' It was the first time she had seen the name." [4]
The English lyrics were written as a poem by Jane Taylor (1783–1824) [5] and published with the title "The Star" in Rhymes for the Nursery by Jane and her sister Ann Taylor (1782–1866) in London in 1806: [6]
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Then the trav'ller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often thro' my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
'Tis your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the trav'ller in the dark:
Tho' I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
The lyrics were first published with the tune "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman" in The Singing Master: First Class Tune Book in 1838. [5] When sung, the first two lines of the entire poem are repeated as a refrain after each stanza.
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is sung to the French melody "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman".
Additional variations exist such as
1. From the 1840 novel Poor Jack (chapter 4), by Frederick Marryat.
Pretty little twinkling star,
How I wonder what you are;
All above the earth so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
2. From 1896 in Song Stories for the Kindergarten [7] by Mildred J. Hill.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How we wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
When the glorious sun has set,
And the grass with dew is wet,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
When the golden sun doth rise,
Fills with shining light the skies,
Then you fade away from sight,
Shine no more 'till comes the night.
A parody of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" titled "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat" is recited by the Mad Hatter in chapter seven of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . [8]
A version using synonyms from Roget's Thesaurus exists. [9]
The opening lyrics are also used to begin the traditional murder ballad "Duncan and Brady."
The song can also be played as a singing game. [10]
"The ABC Song" is the best-known song used to recite the English alphabet in alphabetical order. It is commonly used to teach the alphabet to children in English-speaking countries. "The ABC Song" was first copyrighted in 1835 by Boston music publisher Charles Bradlee. The melody is from a 1761 French music book and is also used in other nursery rhymes like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", while the author of the lyrics is unknown. Songs set to the same melody are also used to teach the alphabets of other languages.
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.
Twinkling, also called scintillation, is a generic term for variations in apparent brightness, colour, or position of a distant luminous object viewed through a medium. If the object lies outside the Earth's atmosphere, as in the case of stars and planets, the phenomenon is termed astronomical scintillation; for objects within the atmosphere, the phenomenon is termed terrestrial scintillation. As one of the three principal factors governing astronomical seeing, atmospheric scintillation is defined as variations in illuminance only.
"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" is an English nursery rhyme, the earliest printed version of which dates from around 1744. The words have barely changed in two and a half centuries. It is sung to a variant of the 18th century French melody Ah! vous dirai-je, maman.
A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied in some cultures more than others, they appear to be universal in human society.
Barney in Concert is a Barney & the Backyard Gang stage show, which released on video on July 29, 1991, in the United States and France. It also features the TV show Barney & Friends.
Ann Gilbert was an English poet and literary critic. She gained lasting popularity in her youth as a writer of verse for children. In the years up to her marriage, she became an astringent literary critic. However, she is best remembered as the elder sister and collaborator of Jane Taylor.
In vocal music, contrafactum is "the substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music". The earliest known examples of this procedure date back to the 9th century used in connection with Gregorian chant.
Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman", K. 265/300e, is a piano composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composed when he was around 25 years old. This piece consists of twelve variations on the French folk song "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman". The French melody first appeared in 1761, and has been used for many children's songs, such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep", and the "Alphabet Song".
Twinkliana is a ballet made by Sean Lavery, assistant to the ballet master in chief at New York City Ballet, for students of the Barnard College Dance Department, to Mozart's Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman". The premiere took place Thursday, 11 October 1990 at Barnard's Minor Latham Playhouse. It represents an homage to George Balanchine, whose works include Ivesiana, Mozartiana and Glinkaiana.
Rhymes for the Nursery is a collection of English poems by sisters Jane and Ann Taylor, published in London in 1806. The best-known poem in it is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
"Little Arabella Miller" is an English nursery rhyme often sung in pre-schools. Most references to the song do not attribute a writer but Ann Eliott has been previously cited as a composer. It is also an action song, sung to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".
Le toréador, ou L'accord parfait is an opéra comique in two acts by the French composer Adolphe Adam with a libretto by Thomas-Marie-François Sauvage. It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on 18 May 1849. It was a huge success and the work regularly appeared in the repertoire of the Opéra-Comique until 1869. Adam made use of several familiar pieces of music in the score. The most famous number is a series of variations on "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman". The opera also quotes the aria "Tandis que tout sommeille" from Grétry's L'amant jaloux and "Je brûlerai d'une flamme éternelle" from the same composer's Le tableau parlant as well as popular folk tunes, including the Spanish fandango, cachucha and follia. In spite of this, there is little attempt to give the score local colour. The opera was originally intended to be a single act but was split in two to allow the soprano time to recover her breath in a taxing role.
"La Mantovana" or "Il Ballo di Mantova" is a popular sixteenth-century song attributed to the Italian tenor Giuseppe Cenci, also known as Giuseppino del Biado, to the text Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi da questo cielo. Its earliest known appearance in print is in Biado's collection of madrigals of the year 1600. The melody, later also known as "Ballo di Mantova" and "Aria di Mantova", gained a wide popularity in Renaissance Europe, being recorded variously as the Flemish "Ik zag Cecilia komen", the Polish "Pod Krakowem", the Romanian "Carul cu boi", the Scottish "My mistress is prettie", and the Ukrainian "Kateryna Kucheryava". It is best known as the melody of Bedřich Smetana's Vltava and of the Israeli national anthem "Hatikvah".
Jane Taylor was an English poet and novelist best known for the lyrics of the widely known "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". The sisters Jane and Ann Taylor and their authorship of various works have often been confused, partly because their early ones were published together. Ann Taylor's son, Josiah Gilbert, wrote in her biography, "Two little poems – 'My Mother,' and 'Twinkle, twinkle, little Star' – are perhaps more frequently quoted than any; the first, a lyric of life, was by Ann, the second, of nature, by Jane; and they illustrate this difference between the sisters."
Barney's Colorful World was a stage show based on the Barney franchise. The show was first performed in January 2003 and toured until late 2004. In this stage show, Barney & his friends go around the world with the power of imagination. The video of the stage show was taped at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix, Arizona in March 2004, and released in September 2004.
"Ah! vous dirai-je, maman" is a popular children's song in France. Since its composition in the 18th century, the melody has been applied to numerous lyrics in multiple languages – the English-language song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is one such example. It was adapted in Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is a 2011 children's picture book of Jane Taylor's classic nursery rhyme adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a chipmunk that travels to the moon.
"Johnny Johnny Yes Papa" is an English-language nursery rhyme. The song is about a child, Johnny, who is caught by his father eating sugar when he is not supposed to. Versions of this song comprising more than one verse usually continue with variations on this theme.
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Works related to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star at Wikisource
Learning materials related to Nursery rhymes and songs/Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star at Wikiversity
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