The audio file was generated with software as a demo.

Copyright 2025 by Jon Corelis

For performance or recording permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image:  The Turn of the Tune.  Currier and Ives, 1870.
Image source and licensing:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Turn_of_the_Tune._Traveller_Playing_the_Arkansas_Traveller._Currier_and_Ives,_1870.jpg

Tennessee Reel for Solo Viola

A setting for soprano and piano of the poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats.  This version is of 27 October 2021.  The sound file was created by software as a demo, using choral ah vocals even though the vocal is supposed to be a single singer.

The lyrics are given below.

Copyright 2021 by Jon Corelis

For performance or recording permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Text from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900 ed. Arthur Quiller-Couch 1908 
(punctuation slightly revised)

Image:  Walter Crane: La belle Dame Sans Merci 
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walter_T._Crane_-_La_belle_Dame_Sans_Merci_(1865).jpg


The lyrics:

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 
alone and palely loitering? 
The sedge has wither'd from the lake, 
and no birds sing. 

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 
so haggard and so woebegone? 
The squirrel's granary is full, 
and the harvest's done. 

I see a lily on thy brow, 
with anguish moist and fever dew, 
and on thy cheeks a fading rose 
fast withereth too.

I met a lady in the meads, 
full beautiful, a faery's child; 
her hair was long, her foot was light, 
and her eyes were wild. 

I made a garland for her head, 
and bracelets too, and fragrant zone; 
she looked at me as she did love, 
and made sweet moan. 

I set her on my pacing steed, 
and nothing else saw all day long, 
for sidelong would she bend and sing 
a faery's song. 

She found me roots of relish sweet, 
and honey wild and manna dew, 
and sure in language strange she said, 
"I love thee true." 

She took me to her elfin grot, 
and there she wept and sigh'd full sore, 
and there I shut her wild wild eyes 
with kisses four. 

And there she lulléd me asleep 
and there I dream'd Ah! woe betide! 
The latest dream I ever dream'd 
on the cold hill side. 

I saw pale kings and princes too, 
pale warriors, death pale were they all; 
they cried, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci 
hath thee in thrall!” 

I saw their starv'd lips in the gloam, 
with horrid warning gapéd wide, 
and I awoke and found me here, 
on the cold hill's side. 

And this is why I sojourn here 
alone and palely loitering, 
though the sedge is wither'd from the lake, 
and no birds sing.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

An instrumental adaptation for Alto Flute, Cello, and Harp of a Breton folk song.

The audio file was generated with software as a demo.  

The melody is adapted from Breton Folk Songs by Frances M. Gostling and Liza Lehman (1909). 

Please note that while this composition is based on a traditional melody in the public domain, this
adaptation is an original creative work under copyright. For performance permission, please see:

sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image: photo of Pointe du Raz in Brittany by S. Moeller
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bretagne_Finistere_PointeduRaz15119.jpg

I Dreamt My Love Was Singing for Alto Flute, Cello, and Harp

Sunset Meditation for Alto Flute and Chimes

The audio file was generated with software as a demo.  

Version of 26 October 2023.

Copyright 2023 by Jon Corelis. For performance permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image:  Alphonse Osbert, Soir antique (1908)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alphonse_Osbert,_Soir_antique_(1908).png

Sunset  Meditation

My instrumental adaptation for harp and flute of a Breton folk song. The title means Janet from Guernsey.  One source says this is one of the oldest Breton melodies; the song's lyrics are about a witch. 

Comments as always welcome.

The audio file was created with software as a demo.

The melody is adapted from Musiques Bretonnes by M. Duhamel 1913.

Please note that while this composition is based on a traditional melody in the public domain, this
adaptation is an original creative work under copyright. For performance permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image: photo of Pointe du Raz in Brittany by S. Moeller
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bretagne_Finistere_PointeduRaz15119.jpg

Janed Ar Wern

A composition adapted from traditional Scottish melodies attested in 
eighteenth century books.

Copyright 2025 by Jon Corelis.  The audio file was created with software as a demo.  Audio version of 25 March.

Please note that while this composition is based on traditional melodies in the public domain, my adaptation is an original creative work under copyright.  For performance permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image: Scottish lake landscape in front of mountains Painting by Frank E Jamieson
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scottish_painter_-_Scottish_lake_landscape_in_front_of_mountains.jpg

Scottish Suite For Alto Flute And Cello

Veni, Emanuel:  Instrumental for Alto Flute, Trombone, Viola, and Piano

An instrumental version of a very old Latin Advent hymn; adapted from a melody found in various public domain sources.  The audio file was generated with software as a demo.  Copyright 2025 by Jon Corelis. Audio file version of 24 March.

Please note that while this composition is based on a melody  in the public domain, my adaptation of it is an original creative work under copyright.

For performance or recording permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image:  Edward Burne-Jones An Angel Playing a Flageolet
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Burne-Jones_-_An_Angel_Playing_a_Flageolet.jpg

Veni, Emanuel

Lullaby Clarinet

An instrumental adaptation for Violin, B-flat Clarinet, and Cello, of a Russian folk melody.

The audio file was created with software as a demo.

Please note that while this composition is based on a traditional melody in the public domain, my adaptation is an original creative work under copyright.  For performance permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image:  The Dying Soldier
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_dying_soldier_LCCN2004669263.jpg


Soldier's Lament

These three melodies are adapted from traditional Irish tunes taken from 19th and early 20th century folklore sources. The first, The Song Of Oonagh, is described by folklorist Redfern Mason as an example of "fairy music", which he remarks "is music of a perilous fascination for mortals."  He refers to "its delicate aroma," and says that it has also about it "something dreamy and hallucinatory, as though the notes were of ivory or mother-of-pearl."  The second piece, Paisteen Fionn (The Fair-Haired Young Girl), is still well known; the third, usually called The Merry Old Woman, is less known today.  I may not be wholly justified on the basis of their attestations in calling these pieces dances, but whether or not they were ever actually dance tunes, they seem to me to have a dance-like character.

The audio file was created with software as a demo.  Copyright 2025 by Jon Corelis.  Audio file version of 25 March.

Please note that while this composition is based on traditional melodies in the public domain, this adaptation is an original creative work under copyright.

For performance permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image: Young Girl Fixing Her Hair by Sophie Gengembre Anderson
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anderson_Sophie_Young_Girl_Fixing_Her_Hair.jpg

Three Irish Dances for Flute, Violin, and Piano

The melodies are adapted from traditional Breton folk song melodies attested in 19th-century and early 20th-century books.  The audio file was created with software as a demo.

Image: The Seigneur of Nann and the Fairy from Legends and Romances of Brittany by 
    Lewis Spence (1917)

Four Breton songs for flute

Program note:  parts of this composition are adapted from a melody by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736).

The audio file was created with software as a demo.  Audio file version of 24 March 2025

Copyright 2025 by Jon Corelis. For performance permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image:  Giovanni Battista Pergolesi by Vincenzo Roscioni
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giovanni_Battista_Pergolesi_by_Vincenzo_Roscioni.jpg

Variations on a theme of Pergolesi for Flute, Viola, and Cello

Music traditional, adapted by Jon Corelis

Copyright 2025 by Jon Corelis. For performance permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image from Peasant Songs of Great Russia by E.  Lineff, 1911

The audio file was created with software as a demo.  Audio version of 24 March 2025.

Roseberry and Raspberry for Flute, Viola, and Cello

Anatolia

In a meadow by the hill:  Song for Mezzo-soprano
 
I haven't yet found a singer for this yet, and usually I don't post songs I don't have an actual singer for since I've never heard a vocal simulator which doesn't sound like a mannequin singing.  But some people have said they like the lyrics to this one, so I thought I'd make an exception and post an audio file generated with software using choral ahs for the vocal (even though the vocal is supposed to be a single voice) so anyone interested can get an idea of what it sounds like.  If I ever get it performed and recorded, I'll post that instead.

The instrumentation in this audio file is an example; if it is ever performed it can be sung with this arrangement, or any other instrumentation, or even solo. 

Lyrics copyright 2024 by Jon Corelis.  Image:  Venus of Brassempouy c. 25,000 bce

Image information and licensing: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venus_of_Brassempouy.jpg

The lyrics:


In a meadow by the hill I saw my love lying there; 
in a meadow by the hill, he was there; 
in a meadow by the hill I saw my love lying there, 
Curah crahnah rifi fahlah clee ah tah! 

O my love, never leave me but remain, but remain;   
O my love, never leave me, but remain: 
for if you ever leave me I will never love again, 
Curah crahnah rifi fahlah clee ah tah! 

No, I will never leave you but remain, but remain; 
while the meadow blooms in flowers, I'll remain: 
while the deer is in the forest and the sun burns in the sky,
Curah crahnah rifi fahlah clee ah tah! 

In the meadow by the hill he remains, he remains; 
while the meadow blooms in flowers, he remains: 
while the deer is in the forest and the sun burns in the sky, 
Curah crahnah rifi fahlah clee ah tah! 

Oh I am very pretty with my hair all in a braid, 
with my hair all in a braid, hanging down: 
oh I am very pretty with my hair all in a braid, 
Curah crahnah rifi fahlah clee ah tah!

In a meadow by the hill

The Summer Will Come
Based on an Irish folk melody, for Flute, Cello, and Harp
The audio file was created with MuseScore 4 as a demo.

Please note that while this composition is based on a traditional melody in the public domain, this adaptation of it is  an original creative work under copyright.

Source:  Adapted from Traditional folk-songs from Galway and Mayo collected and edited by 
Mrs. Costello, The Irish Folk Song Society (1919) 

For performance permission, please see:

sites.google.com/site/jcorelis/music-permissions

Image: A day in June in the woods near Lelling by Carl Frederik Aagaard

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Day_in_June-Carl_Frederik_Aagaard.jpg

The Summer Will Come

A suite for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, and Percussion of four traditional Irish airs: Gathering sound, I'm a poor stranger and far from my own, I will raise my sail black, and The girl who was poorly clad.  Gathering sound is well known and is considered a very old air which by legend was the music to which Brian Boru's troops mustered at the battle of Clontarf;  I'm a poor stranger and far from my own and I will raise my sail black are well attested in the older literature though seldom performed today;  The girl 
who was poorly clad, one of the most beautiful Irish airs, is very rarely attested and to the best of my knowledge has never been recorded or included in any composition but the present one.  Basic melodies for 
Gathering Sound adapted from The Song Lore of Ireland by  R. Mason, 1911; for I'm a poor stranger and far from my own from Old Irish Folk Music and Songs by P. Joyce, 1909; for I will raise my sail black from Songs of Erin by C. Stanford, 1901; and for The girl who was poorly clad from Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Volume 2, 1906.

Please note that while this composition is based on traditional melodies in the public domain, this adaptation of it is  an original creative work under copyright.  For performance permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions
 
Image: Beggar (Fisher Girl) by Ilya Repin  
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ilya_Repin_-_Fisher_girl.jpg

Four Irish Songs for Flute, Clarinet, Violin,  Cello, Harp, and Percussion

For Wind Quintet and Harpsichord

from an Irish folk melody

The melody is adapted from Irish minstrels and musicians by F. O'Neill 1913.  The audio file was created with software as a demo.

Version of 14 May 2025

Please note that while this composition is based on a traditional melody in the public domain, this adaptation is an original creative work under copyright.   

For performance permission, please see:   

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image: Raven (?) artist unknown 
Image licensing information:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Raven_(1).jpg

The Black Bird

My choral arrangement for SATB of a traditional carol. 

Source:  supposedly dating from the 17th century in England and found in variants in many old books.  My adaptation is based on these public domain sources.  I've significantly adapted the lyrics to heighten their appeal to a contemporary audience.

This sound file was generated with software using synth choral ah voices.

Image: Edward Burne-Jones Star of Bethlehem

Image information and licensing goo.gl/HcEAv7

Please note that while this composition is based on a traditional song in the public domain, my arrangement of the music and adaptation of the lyrics are an original creative work under copyright. For performance permission, please see:

sites.google.com/site/jcorelis/music-permissions

You could also send me a message via SoundCloud.

Drive The Cold Winter Away

Words and music traditional, adapted by Jon Corelis

The lyrics:

All hail to the days that merit more praise than all the rest of the year,
And welcome the nights that double delights of friends that meet in good cheer.
Good fortune attend each neighbor and friend that do but the best that they may,
Forgetting all strife, rejoicing in life, to drive the cold winter away.

This time of the year is spent in good cheer, and neighbors together do meet
To sit by the fire with friendly desire each other in love for to greet;
Old ties are renewed, in holiday mood, and sorrows aside we all lay;
The old and the young do carol this song to drive the cold winter away.

When merry Yuletide comes in like a bride with ivy and green holly clad,
These days of the year much mirth and good cheer in every household is had;
With seasonal song our mirth we’ll prolong ‘til darkness has all turned to day;
The old and the young do carol this song to drive the cold winter away.

Drive The Cold Winter Away

My arrangement for solo cello of an old Irish fiddle tune known as The Merry Old Woman.  I've also posted arrangements for other instruments.  This is a revision of 4 July 2016. Score pdf available at:

goo.gl/JRgHud

[Image: Celtic knot - licensing information: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Celtic-knot-insquare-39crossings_red-on-black.svg]

Please note that while this composition is based on a traditional song in the public domain, my arrangement of is an original creative work under copyright. You may feel free to share or link to it by the usual means. For performance permission, please see:

sites.google.com/site/jcorelis/music-permissions

Irish Dance (solo cello version)

My arrangement of Addison's poem set to one of the standard English hymnal melodies. The poem is found in numerous slight variants; I've taken these lyrics verbatim from the 1881 edition of The Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The sound file was generated with software using choral ah voices as a demo.

Score pdf available at:

https://goo.gl/waVwmV

Please note that while this piece is based on music and lyrics in the public domain, my arrangement is an original creative work under copyright.  Feel free to link to or share it by the usual means; for performance permission, please send me a SoundCloud message or contact me via:

sites.google.com/site/jcorelis/joncorelis/contact

The lyrics:

How are thy servants blest, O Lord!

By Joseph Addison.

How are thy servants blest, O Lord!
How sure is their defense!
Eternal Wisdom is their guide,
Their help, Omnipotence.

In foreign realms, and lands remote,
Supported by thy care,
Through burning climes they pass unhurt,
And breathe in tainted air.

When by the dreadful tempest borne
High on the broken wave,
They know thou art not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.

The storm is laid, the winds retire,
Obedient to thy will;
The sea, that roars at thy command,
At thy command is still.

In midst of dangers, fears, and deaths,
Thy goodness we'll adore;
We'll praise thee for thy mercies past,
And humbly hope for more.

Our life, while thou preserv'st that life,
Thy sacrifice shall be;
And death, when death shall be our lot,
Shall join our souls to thee.

Image:  Aivasovsky Ivan Constantinovich, Maria in storm
Image information and licensing:  commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aivasovsky_Ivan_Constantinovich_maria_in_storm_1892_IBI.jpg

How Are Thy Servants Blest, O Lord

Adaptations of three Russian folk melodies.

The sound file was generated with software synth instruments.

Image from Peasant Songs of Great Russia by E  Lineff, 1911

Please note that while this composition is based on traditional songs in the public domain, my arrangement of them is an original creative work under copyright. You may feel free to share or link to it by the usual means. For performance permission, please see:

sites.google.com/site/jcorelis/music-permissions

Three Russian Songs

For solo A Clarinet, based on a Serbian folk song.

I've posted other instrumentations of this same melody.

This version was composed for clarinetist Emily Mehigh for her YouTube recording project The Miniature Month of May.  The sound file was generated from her YouTube posting (https://youtu.be/Gap1oI-u72Q) and is posted here with her permission.

For more of my compositions featuring clarinet, please see:


https://soundcloud.com/jon-corelis/sets/clarinet-pieces


Please note that while this composition is based on a traditional song in the public domain, my arrangement of it is an original creative work under copyright. You may feel free to share or link to it by the usual means. Copyright 2021 by Jon Corelis.  For recording and performance permission, please see https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions 

Image: Dawn.
Image information and licensing: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amanecerluzzyacentillo2.JPG

White Dawn for Solo A Clarinet

My instrumental version for flute, cello, and piano, of an Irish folk melody. 

This is a new version as of 11 July 2025  of a composition which I've posted previously. Any previous versions should be considered obsolete.

The sound file was created with software as a demo


Please note that while this composition is based on a traditional melody in the public domain, this adaptation 
of it is  an original creative work under copyright.

Source:  Adapted from Traditional folk-songs from Galway and Mayo collected and edited by 
Mrs. Costello, The Irish Folk Song Society (1919) 

For performance permission, please see:

sites.google.com/site/jcorelis/music-permissions

Image: A day in June in the woods near Lelling by Carl Frederik Aagaard

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Day_in_June-Carl_Frederik_Aagaard.jpg

My instrumental version for flute, cello, and piano, of a Welsh folk melody. This is a new version as of 21 July 2018 of a composition which I've posted previously. Any previous versions should be considered obsolete.

The sound file was created with software as a demo.

Score pdf available at:

https://musescore.com/user/2488/scores/5171872

Please note that while this composition is based on a traditional song in the public domain, my adaptation is an original creative work under copyright. You may feel free to share or link to it by the usual means. For performance permission, please see:

sites.google.com/site/jcorelis/music-permissions

Image: Aberglasyn, Beddgelert, Wales Image information and licensing: 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:From_Aberglasyn,_Beddgelert,_Wales_LOC_3752443808.jpg

Abergenny

A recorded performance of this piece by flutist Beth Ratay is available at:

https://youtu.be/pkcrUFI7054

PROGRAM NOTE: Fairy music, wrote folklorist Redfern Mason in his The Song Lore of Ireland,  “is music of a perilous fascination for mortals." He refers to  “its delicate aroma, and says that it has also about it  “something dreamy and hallucinatory, as though the notes were of ivory or mother-of-pearl."  This composition attempts to capture something of those qualities by interweaving passages original with the composer with adaptations of airs considered in Irish folk traditions to be fairy music.  The first of these is adapted from a fiddle tune printed with the title  “The Fairy Reel" in the April  1904 issue of The Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society; the other two are variations on airs included in Mason's book with the titles  “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday" and  “The Song of Oonagh. “

The sound file was created with software as a demo.

Score pdf available for sale at:

https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/21977434

Version of 15 February 2021

Please note that while this composition is partly based on traditional melodies in the public domain, this adaptation of them is an original creative work under copyright.

For performance permission, please see:

https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Image: Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing by William Blake
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oberon,_Titania_and_Puck_with_Fairies_Dancing._William_Blake._c.1786.jpg

Three Fairy Songs for Solo Flute

A composition for solo flute that adapts three old Irish airs from a manuscript collection of 1842: The lasses of Farm Hill, The foggy dew, Get up my darling and come with me. The foggy dew is still a standard of the folk song repertory; Get up my darling and come with me is occasionally performed or recorded, The lasses of Farm Hill rarely.
 
Revised version of 12 December 2023

The sound file was created with software as a demo.

Image:Winter Fog in the Wicklow Mountains, Ireland. 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WinterFog.jpg

Three Old Irish Airs for Solo Flute

A composition for solo clarinet that adapts three old Irish airs from a manuscript collection of 1842: The lasses of Farm Hill, The foggy dew, Get up my darling and come with me.  The foggy dew is still a standard of the folk song repertory; Get up my darling and come with me is occasionally performed or recorded, The lasses of Farm Hill rarely.

The audio file was generated with software as a demo.

There is also a version of this for solo flute at:

https://soundcloud.com/jon-corelis/three-old-irish-airs

For more of my compositions featuring clarinet, please see:

https://soundcloud.com/jon-corelis/sets/clarinet-pieces

Copyright 2021 by Jon Corelis.  For recording and performance permission, please see https://sites.google.com/view/jon-corelis-permissions

Three Old Irish Airs For Clarinet

Jon Corelis was born in California and grew up in and around Chicago, where he earned a degree in Classical Languages and Literatures at the College of the University of Chicago. He later took a doctorate in Classics at Stanford, and taught Classics and Humanities at Stanford, the University of California, and the University of Minnesota. After a subsequent career as a software specialist in Silicon Valley, he now lives in Wisconsin. His poetry and other writings have been published in print and on web sites in eight countries, and he has given lectures and readings by invitation in America and Europe. 
He more recently has turned to composing songs and instrumental pieces.  His music has been featured on the web site The Flexible Persona, has been performed in concert by the Wisconsin ensemble a very small consortium, by the New York State flute quartet Party of Four, by the Opus Chorale of West Virginia, and at Denison University's TUTTI 2019 Festival, and has been recorded by flutist Robin Meiksins for her YouTube recording project 365 Days of Flute, and by clarinetist Emily Mehigh for her YouTube recording project The Miniature Month of May.

If you are interested in recording or publicly performing his compositions, please see his permissions page.

Jon Corelis

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