Greensleeves on viola da gamba outside in the west of Ireland

First written down in 1580, Greensleeves was given Christmas lyrics the following century. Here played on an instrument popular at the time, the viola da gamba. If you would like to support this music please go to: Greensleeves“ is a traditional English folk song. A broadside ballad by the name “A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves“ was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationer’s Company in September 1580 Here I play a 7 string bass viol or viola da gamba. Viols most commonly have six strings, although many 16th-century instruments had only four or five strings. Viols were (and are) strung with gut strings of lower tension than on the members of the violin family.[citation needed] Gut strings produce a sonority far different from steel, generally described as softer and sweeter. Around 1660, gut or silk core strings overspun with copper wire first became available; these were then used for the lowest-pitched bass string