Annotation:Pease upon a Trencher
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PEAS(E) UPON A TRENCHER [1] (Pis air an mias). AKA and see "Time I've Lost in Wooing (The)." English, Scottish; Country Dance Tune (2/4 time); Irish, Air. F Major (Raven): G Major (Merryweather & Seattle, O'Neill). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill): AABB (Merryweather & Seattle, Raven). A trencher is an oblong trough-shaped shallow dish formerly used instead of a plate. The melody appears in a number of musicians’ manuscript copybooks, including those of Henry Beck (1786), John Fife (compiled 1780-1804 in Perthshire, Scotland, and possibly at sea), William Calvert (North Yorkshire, 1812), Oliver White (Conn., 1775), fifer Aaron Thompson (New Jersey, 1777-1782), and Ebenezer Bevens (Middletown, Conn., 1825), among others. In print it can be found in James Aird’s Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1 (Glasgow, 1782), Neil Stewart’s Select Collection of Scots, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, Jiggs, and Marches (Edinburgh, 1788), and in numerous fife tutors and martial publications of the early 19th century. It was a melody in John O’Keefe’s opera The Poor Soldier (1784), and can even be heard played by a musical clock of 1798-99, from the shop of famous New Jersey clockmakers Leslie and Williams.
Source for notated version: an MS collection by fiddler Lawrence Leadley, 1827-1897 (Helperby, Yorkshrire) [Merryweather & Seattle].
Printed sources: P.M. Haverty (One Hundred Irish Airs vol. 2), 1858; No. 198, p. 90. Merryweather & Seattle (The Fiddler of Helperby), 1994; No. 125, p. 65. O'Neill (Music of Ireland, 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 533, p. 93. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 150. Riley (Flute Melodies, vol. 1), 1814; p. 92.
Recorded sources: