Williams, Fantasia on Greensleeves

My Lady Greensleeves

Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, 1860-63

 

Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on Greensleeves

 

My Lady Greensleeves

Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, 1863

 

One possible interpretation of the lyrics is that Lady Green Sleeves was a promiscuous young woman and perhaps a prostitute. At the time, the word "green" had sexual connotations, most notably in the phrase "a green gown", a reference to the way that grass stains might be seen on a woman's dress if she had engaged in sexual intercourse out of doors. Wikipedia

 

Ralph Vaughan Williams