The New Murrey and Blue blog

Richard III and the Addams Family….?

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Beautiful Snowdonia, from https://globalgrasshopper.com/destinations/uk/10-beautiful-places-visit-wales/

It seems that while watching the new two-part hit Netflix series Wednesday (I’ve never heard of it, but apparently it stars Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams. 🙄) an expert on folk music noticed that it included an ancient Welsh tune. See here.

The article goes on to state “….The tune is also recorded in English Country Dance books of the 18th century as a ‘Welch’ dance. It is possible/probable that the Rhisiart [Richard] in question was King Richard III…..”

The usual name for this tune is Rhisiart Annwyl, but it is also known as Y Pêr Oslef. Google Translate assures me that Rhisiart Annwyl means Dear Richard. But whether the Richard in question is OUR Richard, I cannot say because there don’t appear to be any lyrics.

You can listen to the tune here

The much vaunted Netflix series (see here) may have passed me by, but having been born in Wales and spent a great deal of my childhood there, I can honestly say that I DID recognise this ancient melody!

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  1. H.J. Hill Avatar
    H.J. Hill

    Thank you. Lovely. If I were in a dancing mood, I would.

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  2. Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey Avatar
    Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

    I have Welsh ancestry and would love to visit one day! I must find that show too, as kids used to tease me as a young teenager that I looked like Morticia! I was mortified but when I told my mom she said I should take it as a compliment as the actress who played Morticia Addams back in the 70s was beautiful!

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    1. viscountessw Avatar
      viscountessw

      She was right! 😊

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      1. snoweagles Avatar
        snoweagles

        Hello Vicountessw, I have made an important find concerning King Richard. No not that one but Richard II. Need to discuss it, would be helpful. I also have a good engraving of Edward of Westminster last Lancastrian Prince (well sort of last) who died at the battle of Tewkesbury. Could you please contact;

                                   in  Somerset

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  3. Anne Ayres Avatar
    Anne Ayres

    Just listened to the tune, it’s lovely. And you never know, it MAY be our Richard – or his father? There is a small town on the borders of England and Wales called Richard’s Castle. They were at Ludlow castle in his childhood and his brother was Earl of March so there are Welsh/border connections…

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  4. amma19542019 Avatar
    amma19542019

    coming out of left field here (baseball expression) I took this tune for one from Appalachia, which does have its base of Scots-Irish population (especially Jacobins) but also Welsh emigres since the 1700’s – I thought I would check up on just where in Appalachia the Welsh settled (Appalachia covers several states) and I found this little oddity, news to me:

    https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2017/05/they-were-a-people-called-welsh-and-they-had-crossed-the-great-water.html

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    1. viscountessw Avatar
      viscountessw

      Thank you very much, Amma19542019. I didn’t know any of that. 😊

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      1. amma19542019 Avatar
        amma19542019

        The US is truly a hodgepodge of ethnicities and cultures! My good friend is from the hills of North Carolina with a surname of Dixon, first name Reginald, which may not seem all that peculiar until you know the whole of his family story! The Dixon side is descended from Jacobites who fled Scotland after the disaster of Culloden. They started long the coast and moved inland and upland (way upland), the patriarch added a wife, one Kenyan slave, captured by a rival tribe then sold to another tribe and then sold to Portuguese traders and off she went to the colonies! Found herself owned by (unknown) number of masters before Dixon who bought (?) her and brought him with him upland. When they married appears to have made no difficulties – everyone was ‘running’ from something (hence the choice of the uplands, ie. Appalachia).
        In college, (that is Reggie’s first degree lol), he was with the state champions… for clog dancing! They toured all over the state and region, clog dancing resembles a variety of other cultural dancing styles and is still very popular. In Appalachia! So Sundays he sings in the Baptist church choir like a good southern boy should, loads vinegar onto his collard greens, and when he gets the itch to ‘step’ out, joins in a clog. He is currently working on PhD no.3 (in Physics, on ‘dark matter’) and still has time for flight instruction!
        Best of all, he entirely agrees that Richard III was not an “irrational man” who was prone to “knee jerk decisions” (he has played devil’s advocate with me about Richard for awhile!)

        https://www.cornucopia-dance.org.uk/

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  5. viscountessw Avatar
    viscountessw

    A fascinating story, amma19542019. Truth is so often stranger than fiction. By the way, there will be a future post about Madog, with due thanks to you for providing the inspiration.

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