Annotation:Nancy's Fancy
X:1 T:Nancy’s Fancy. Irish M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel B:Robert Petrie – Third Collection of Strathspey Reels (1802, p. 24) N:Dedicated to Francis Garden Esq. Junior of Troup by N:Robert Petrie at Kirkmichael. Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D A|df Tf2|ge Te2|fdcd|e/d/e/f/ eA| df Tf2|geeg|fe/d/ c/d/e/f/|d2d2:| |:A/B/4c/4|dcBA|GFED|TBAdF|E2 E(A/B/4c/4)| dcBA|GFED|Ad c/d/e/f/|d2d2:| |:f/d/f/d/ f/d/f/d/|g/e/g/e/ g/e/g/e/|f/d/f/d/ f/d/f/d/|e/d/c/B/ Ag| f/d/f/d/ f/d/f/d/|g/e/g/e/ g/e/g/e/|g/f/e/d/ c/d/e/f/|d2d2:|]
NANCY'S FANCY. AKA and see "Miss Colcroft's Favorite." Scottish?, Irish?, English?; Country Dance Tune (2/2 time). G Major (Kennedy & Raven): C Major (Karpeles, Sharp): D Major (Winter). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC (Karpeles, Sharp): AABC (Kennedy & Raven). The melody was printed by Perthshire fiddler-composer Robert Petrie in his Third Collection of Strathspey Reels (1802, p. 24), where he identified its provenance as "Irish". However, it has no Irish melodic character to it, and sounds like a generic country dance. It was published earlier as "Miss Colcroft's Favorite" in William Campbell's 9th Book of New and Favorite Country Dances & Strathspey Reels (London, 1795, p. 8), though whether it was one of his 'new' selections or one of the 'favorites' is not known. Versions of the tune were entered in the music manuscript collection of James Winder (Cumbria, 1835-41), and in the mid-19th century music manuscript of William Winter (1774-1861), a shoemaker and violin player who lived in West Bagborough in Somerset, southwest England.
The first part of this tune appears as the second part of the Pennsylvania-collected "Cheat River (The)" (Bayard, 1981; No. 370, p. 361). Thomas Hardy, English novelist, fiddler and accordion player, mentions the tune in his novel The Return of the Native (Book Second, chapter 5).
