The Huntes upp is a sixteenth century ballad attributed to William Gray.
The hunt is up was commonly associated to any song that would be sung in the morning. Shakespeare employs it as such in Romeo and Juliet (act iii, sc. 5).
There is a keyboard version in C major by William Byrd. The work is included in two of the most important collections of keyboard music of the Renaissance, My Ladye Nevells Booke and the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. The copying of My Ladye Nevells Booke, which contains a selection of Byrd's keyboard pieces, was completed in 1591. The Huntes upp is believed, on stylistic grounds, to be one of the earlier pieces in the collection
The piece has 11 variations on the songs The Hunt is Up and The Nine Muses. It is usually played on a harpsichord or piano and takes around 7 minutes.
The lyrics are:
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