Annotation:Village Quickstep (The)

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VILLAGE QUICKSTEP, THE. AKA and see "Pennsylvania Quickstep (1) (The)," "Bartlett's Two-Step," "Minnie Moore." D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA’BB’CC. Mattson (1974) records that the melody was composed by Dr. John C. Bartlett (1808-1877) in 1843, and was popular during the Civil War era. Bartlett lived most of his life in Chelmsford, Mass., after graduating from Bowdoin College (Me.) and Harvard, which he left in 1831. Although medicine was his profession, music was his hobby, and he was chorister of the Unitarian Society and composer of a few popular melodies. “Although of a somewhat aristocratic bearing,” one sketch of him goes, “he was the kindest of neighbours, and a man universally respected for the uprightness of his life.”

Bartlett may have played the tune but its composition predates him, as it was entered in the music manuscript commonplace book (in the key of B Flat) of Luther Kingsley (Mansfield, Conn.), compiled from 1795 to c. 1815 [Mansfield Historical Society, Mansfield, Conn.].

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Mattson (Old Fort Snelling Instruction Book for the Fife), 1974; p. 87.

Recorded sources:

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