Annotation:Friar and the Nun (1) (The)

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FRIAR AND THE NUN [1], THE. AKA - "Wiltshire Wedding," "London 'Prentice (1) (The)," "All in a Misty Morning," "All on a Misty Morning," "Beggar Got a Beadle (A)." English, Country Dance Tune (2/4 time). D Major (Chappell): D Major/Mixolydian (Raven, Sharp). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The tune appears in Playford's English Dancing Master (1650), Musick's Delight on the Cithren (1666), Pills to Purge Melancholy and many ballad operas, including John Gay's Beggar's Opera (1728) {where it appears under the title "All in a Misty Morning," which is the first line of a song called "The Wiltshire Wedding"}. The ballad "The Friar and the Nun" dates back at least to 1542, where it is alluded to in Archbishop Udal's translation of the Apophthegmes of Erasmus. Versions of the melody were also quite popular in Ireland, especially with the old harpers and their audiences. Variations were set by the famous harper Lyons in 1698, according to the collector Edward Bunting, who himself had the tune from one of the last of the ancient harpers, a man named Hempson, in 1796 (see note for "Lovely Lass to a Friar Came (2) (A)"/"Lovely Nun to a Friar Came (2) (A).")

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Barlow (Complete Country Dances from Playford's Dancing Master), 1985; No. 26, p. 22. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time) vol. 1, 1859; p. 286. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pp. 45, 57 and 9 (includes a facsimile copy of Playford's Dancing Master original). Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909; p. 37. Walsh (Complete Country Dancing-Master, Volume the Fourth), London, 1740; No. 192.

Recorded sources:

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