Adagio Trio Performs "Greensleeves"

"Almost everyone thinks 'Greensleeves' is a sad song—but why?" asks Ferris Jabr, noting that "the melody prominently features a musical construct called the minor third, which musicians have used to express sadness since at least the 17th century" — Music and speech share a code for communicating sadness in the minor third. The author reports on "a study in the June issue of Emotion suggests the minor third isn't a facet of musical communication alone—it's how we convey sadness in speech, too."