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unexpectedly proposes marriage and promises Fancy a life of relative affluence; racked by guilt and temptation, she accepts. The next day, however, at a chance meeting with Dick, Maybold learns that Fancy is in fact already spoken for. Maybold writes her a letter, admonishing her to be honest with Dick and to withdraw her commitment to him if she indeed meant what she said in accepting
Maybold. Fancy withdraws her consent to marry Maybold, and asks him to keep her initial acceptance forever a secret. Maybold again urges her to be honest with Dick about the episode.
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rereading the narrative after a long interval there occurs the inevitable reflection that the realities out of which it was spun were material for another kind of study of this little group of church musicians than is found in the chapters here penned so lightly, even so farcically and flippantly at times. But circumstances would have rendered any aim at a deeper, more essential, more transcendent handling unadvisable at the date of writing."
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261:, to whom he offered the manuscript in 1871, Hardy accepted an offer from the ultimate publisher, Tinsley, of £30 for the copyright. Later, when Hardy had become more established, he attempted to retrieve the copyright but declined to pay Tinsley's quoted price of £300; the copyright was to remain with the publisher and his successors until after Hardy's death.
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Tomalin considered the villagers to be drawn sympathetically, and with beautifully turned dialogue, but noted that the author rather distances the rustic characters, inviting the reader to smile with him at their simplicity. This was something that Hardy himself recognised, and in 1912 he wrote: "In
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served as a kind of necessary prequel and establishing myth for the world of Wessex that Hardy depicted in subsequent tragic works: the novel, he argued, "is a fragile evocation of a self-contained country world that in Hardy's later fiction will come to seem distant and unavailable, a social memory
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praised Hardy for the beauty and precision of his descriptive writing, and noted that the book has charmed generations of readers. Indeed, she said, there are always readers who go to him primarily to immerse themselves in "the Dorset woodlands, streams and rivers, fields and meadows, cottages and
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was published by
Tinsley on 15 June 1872, with the author's name not appearing on the first edition. The novel was published in the United States in June 1873 by Holt & Williams, and was serialised there the following year. When the book was republished in the UK in 1912 by Macmillan, the full
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The final chapter is a joyful and humorous portrait of Reuben, William, and the rest of the
Mellstock rustics as they celebrate Dick and Fancy's wedding day. The novel concludes after the ceremony with Dick telling Fancy that their happiness must be due to there being such full confidence between
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Dick seems to win Fancy's heart, and the two become secretly engaged. When he is informed, Fancy's father is initially opposed, but changes his mind when as a consequence Fancy stops eating and her health deteriorates. Some months later, after Fancy's first Sunday service as organist, Maybold
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The novel opens with the fiddlers and singers of the choir — including Dick, his father Reuben Dewy, and grandfather
William Dewy — making the rounds in Mellstock village on Christmas Eve. When the little band plays at the schoolhouse, young Dick falls for Fancy at first sight. Dick seeks to
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240:, but during the summer of 1871 Hardy added significant additional material, de-emphasising the tribulations of the choir and focusing the plot on the love story between Dick and Fancy. With the new structure came a new title,
131:. Critics recognise it as an important precursor to his later tragic works, setting the scene for the Wessex that the author would return to again and again. Hardy himself called the story of the Mellstock Quire and its
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While the novel closes on an ambiguous and even sceptical note, it is nevertheless distinguished among Hardy's fiction—particularly his Wessex novels—for its relative happiness and amiability. For the critic
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them. He says that they will have no secrets from each other, "no secrets at all". Fancy replies "None from to-day" and, changing the subject, thinks "of a secret she would never tell".
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insinuate himself into her life and affections, but Fancy's beauty has gained her other suitors including Shiner, a rich farmer, and Mr
Maybold, the new
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135:"a fairly true picture, at first hand, of the personages, ways, and customs which were common among such orchestral bodies in the villages of ".
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adapted from the novel. The work was commissioned by Dorset Opera for their 50th anniversary, and first performed in July 2024 at the 2024
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is also recognised by critics as an important precursor to his major works. In his 1872 review of the novel for the
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church, and a new vicar who was determined to replace the choir with an up-to-date organ. He modelled
Mellstock on
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in 1871, the genesis of the novel being a conflict between his grandfather's 'string choir' of viols and voices in
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Reuben Dewy: Dick's father, a tranter (carrier), the de facto leader of, and spokesman for, the
Mellstock Choir
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The book was well reviewed on its publication, receiving special praise for its freshness and originality.
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Geoffrey Day: Fancy's father, gamekeeper and steward at one of the Earl of Wessex's outlying estates
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Frederic Shiner: a rich farmer in
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Under the
Greenwood Tree, or, The Mellstock Quire: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School
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a production by Helen Davis that toured to a variety of locations in 2009 including
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Moule, Horace (1996). "Saturday Review, 28 September 1872". In Cox, R.G. (ed.).
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The Thomas Hardy
Society - Dorset Opera Festival: Under the Greenwood Tree
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Dick Dewy: a young member of the Mellstock Choir, in love with Fancy Day
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Robert Penny: one of the choir, a boot and shoe-maker by profession
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Maybold informs the choir that he intends Fancy, an accomplished
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to negotiate, but reluctantly give way to the vicar's wishes.
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Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School
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Hardy began work on what would become the first of his
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There have been several stage adaptations, including:
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143:The novel follows the activities of a group of
288:Sometimes grouped with Hardy's lesser novels,
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711:Under the Greenwood Tree - Period Dramas.com
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1391:The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall
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413:a Hammerpuzzle production that played at
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236:The book was originally to be called
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321:churches, soft skies and birdsong".
252:A Rural Painting of the Dutch School
36:Under the Greenwood Tree (1918 film)
32:Under the Greenwood Tree (1929 film)
619:Thomas Hardy: The Critical Heritage
362:of the same title is unconnected).
250:(Act II, Scene V), and a subtitle,
910:. London: Viking (Penguin Books).
382:which transferred to the West End
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1506:British novels adapted into plays
1496:British novels adapted into films
1242:Poems of the Past and the Present
123:is a novel by the English writer
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799:"2016: Under The Greenwood Tree"
722:Gaughan, Gavin (24 April 2013).
202:William Dewy: Dick's grandfather
908:Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man
695:Under the Greenwood Tree (2005)
623:. New York: Routledge. p.
1424:Florence Dugdale (second wife)
458:"British Library Item details"
34:. For the unrelated film, see
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1234:Wessex Poems and Other Verses
1202:Barbara of the House of Grebe
1162:A Changed Man and Other Tales
30:For the film adaptation, see
1358:The Convergence of the Twain
954:public domain audiobook at
436:, directed by the composer.
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1216:A Tragedy of Two Ambitions
1039:Far from the Madding Crowd
875:"Under the Greenwood Tree"
825:"Under the Greenwood Tree"
338:The story was adapted for
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27:1872 novel by Thomas Hardy
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1103:Tess of the d'Urbervilles
1087:The Mayor of Casterbridge
1007:The Poor Man and the Lady
407:for New Hardy Players in
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44:Under the Greenwood Tree
1209:The Fiddler of the Reels
1055:The Return of the Native
1023:Under the Greenwood Tree
951:Under the Greenwood Tree
934:Under the Greenwood Tree
526:Under the Greenwood Tree
316:Hardy's 2006 biographer
310:Under the Greenwood Tree
290:Under the Greenwood Tree
270:Under the Greenwood Tree
242:Under the Greenwood Tree
56:First edition title page
1337:The Respectable Burgher
1265:Satires of Circumstance
1130:Short story collections
646:. New York: Macmillan.
1481:Novels by Thomas Hardy
1409:Thomas Hardy's Cottage
1351:A Trampwoman's Tragedy
1146:A Group of Noble Dames
1047:The Hand of Ethelberta
638:Howe, Irving (1985) .
523:Hardy, Thomas (1912).
281:Criticism and analysis
145:west gallery musicians
133:west-gallery musicians
1440:Thomas Hardy's Wessex
1250:Time's Laughingstocks
1154:Life's Little Ironies
434:Dorset Opera Festival
424:an opera by composer
403:a 2016 production by
182:Principal characters
1476:1872 British novels
1323:The Darkling Thrush
1181:The Three Strangers
1031:A Pair of Blue Eyes
557:, pp. 146–147.
545:, pp. 118–119.
529:. Macmillan and Co.
496:, pp. 114–116.
380:Salisbury Playhouse
238:The Mellstock Quire
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1491:Novels about music
1226:Poetry collections
1015:Desperate Remedies
468:on 8 November 2022
384:Vaudeville Theatre
112:Print, two volumes
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1344:The Man He Killed
1273:Moments of Vision
1063:The Trumpet-Major
939:Project Gutenberg
917:978-0-670-91512-5
803:New Hardy Players
653:978-0-333-39537-0
428:with libretto by
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354:as Fancy Day and
342:, and for a 2005
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16:(Redirected from
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1188:A Mere Interlude
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1111:Jude the Obscure
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1383:The Dynasts
1289:Human Shows
1281:Late Lyrics
1071:A Laodicean
340:a 1929 film
334:Film and TV
329:Adaptations
306:Irving Howe
265:Publication
1470:Categories
441:References
421:in 2019/20
419:Cheltenham
415:Gloucester
409:Dorchester
213:Background
1106:(1891/92)
753:The Stage
430:Euan Tait
426:Paul Carr
259:Macmillan
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227:Stinsford
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472:14 April
168:vicarage
164:organist
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1433:Related
884:22 July
859:22 July
395:Andover
386:in 1978
350:) with
155:at the
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348:Jersey
344:BBC TV
221:novels
219:Wessex
63:Author
1375:Plays
1308:Poems
391:Thame
366:Stage
153:vicar
1402:Life
912:ISBN
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