Annotation:Romp (1) (The)

{{TuneAnnotation |f_tune_annotation_title= https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Romp_(1)_(The) >

|f_annotation=ROMP [1], THE. AKA - "Merry Girls of Scarborough (The)." English, Country Dance Tune (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. In 1767 musician, composer, novelist, actor and songwriter Charles Dibdin (1745-1814) was the original Watty Cockney in Love in the City (1767), and although the play itself was a commercial failure, Dibdin's music for the opera received approval. A number of selections were later altered into the successful production The Romp (1791), for which he composed choruses and songs, including the popular "Dear me! how I long to be married!" "The Romp" was one of the favorite vehicles for the adored period comic actress Dorothy Jordon.

See note for "[[annotation "Romp (3) (The)" for more on a romp.

This tune and directions for a country dance were printed by London publishers Samuel, Ann & Peter Thompson in their Compleat Collection of 200 Country Dances, vol. 5 (1788, p. 19). However, the whether Dibdin was the composer of this melody is not known, nor is the connection with his opera ascertained (it was staged a few years after the Thompson's publication). Alternatively, and perhaps more convincingly, The Romp was an afterpiece entertainment that played the Haymarket Theatre, London, for several seasons 1786-1789, and would correspond more closely with the Thompson's publication of the tune. |f_source_for_notated_version= |f_printed_sources= |f_recorded_sources= |f_see_also_listing= }}