Aura Lea (Nora Lee / Love me tender) for string quintet

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Description

The tune of Aura Lea was originally composed by Englishman George R. Poulton (1828–1867) who migrated to the USA.
It has undergone many versions in the past 150 years, including the original Civil War song to words by W. W. Fosdick, subtitled “Maid with golden hair”, “Nora Lee”, various glee club arrangements and, eventually, Elvis Presley’s “Love me Tender”.
The rhythms here switch from swing-like triplets to plain classical and back and various instruments have a few cheeky side comments from time to time, including chromatics and a development going into more modern-romantic harmonies.