Annotation:Newcastle (1)

Back to Newcastle (1)

NEWCASTLE [1]. AKA and see "Come You Not from Newcastle?" English; Country Dance Tune (2/2 time). G Major (most versions): F Major (Chappell). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Chappell): AABB (most versions). The air was published by John Playford (1623-1686) in the first edition of his English Dancing Master [1] (1651, p. 77), where it was the tune for a special country dance, a "round for 4 couples". "Newcastle" appears in all subsequent editions of the Dancing Master through the 8th edition of 1690, after which it was dropped. The English city of Newcastle is in Northumberland, near the border with Scotland.

"Newcastle" is a popular melody with early music groups. The Newcastle dance most often seen in modern times is from Cecil Sharp in the 2nd volume of the Country Dance Book in 1911, altered by Sharp in the 6th book of the Country Dance Book in 1922.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), vol. 1, 1859; p. 188. Fleming-Williams & Shaw (English Dance Airs; Popular Selection, Book 1), 1965; p. 5. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician No. 14: Songs, Airs and Dances of the 18th Century), 1997; p. 14. Karpeles & Schofield (A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; p. 11. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 23 & 45. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1994; p. 16.

Recorded sources: Dorian 90238, The Baltimore Consort - "A Trip to Killburn." Dorian Sono Luminus, "The Baltimore Consort Live in Concert" (2010). See also listing at:
See the dance performed on youtube.com [2]