Ball (1) (The)

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Theme code Index	32 15L 6L4 17L
Also known as	Bell (The)
Composer/Core Source
Region	England
Genre/Style	English
Meter/Rhythm	Jig/Quadrille
Key/Tonic of	A
Accidental	3 sharps
Mode	Ionian (Major)
Time signature	6/8
History
Structure	AABB
Editor/Compiler	Biography:Frank Kidson
Book/Manuscript title	Book:Old English Country Dances
Tune and/or Page number	p. 13
Year of publication/Date of MS	1890
Artist	Biography:Hesperus
Title of recording	Early American Roots
Record label/Catalogue nr.	Maggie's Music MMCD216
Year recorded	1997
Media
Score ()

<abc float="left"> X:1 T:The Ball [1] M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig S:Frank Kidson - Old English Country Dances (1890) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A e|c2A B2G|AcA E2E|F2F d2B|(A3 G2)e|c2A B2G| AcA E2E|F2d B2G|A3 A,2::c|B2E d2B|cec A2c|B2E d2B| (c3 B2)e|f2d B2g|a2e c2A|F2d B2G|A3 A,2:|| </abc>

BALL [1], THE. AKA - "The Bell." English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). A Major (Kidson, Trim): G Major (Callaghan). Standard tuning. AABB. "The Ball" appears in several publications and musicians' manuscripts from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It can be found in Longman and Broderip's Twenty-Four Country Dances for the year 1790, and in The Entire New and Compleat Tutor for the Violin by Geminiani, via a MS collection by Dorset writer Thomas Hardy and his family. Frank Kidson (1890) finds it in Fourteen favourite Cotillion and Country Dances...The Fifteenth Book, for the year 1786...Thomas Budd." An English manuscript, John Ball's music copybook of 1792, contains the melody on page 24 set in the key of G. It also appears in John Carter's 1792 British manuscript, John Clare's music manuscript (c. 1820, Helpston, Northants, appears as "The Bell"), and the 19th century Welch family manuscripts (Bosham, Sussex). William O. Adams had the tune in his music commonplace book, and although Adams was American, it appears that the book was perhaps originally purchased in London for it is inscribed "London, September 4th, 1795" and contains both English and American tunes. John Carr's 1801 American publication First Book of Cotillions contains the melody, as does Norris & Sawyer's Village Fifer (Exeter, N.H., 1808, pg. 29), Edward Murphy's (Newport, R.I., 1790) copybook, William Patten's (Philadelphia, Pa., c. 1800) manuscript, Samuel Holyoke's The Instrumental Assisstant (Exeter, N.H., 1800), and J. Hewitt's Fashionable Repertory...of Country Dances & Waltzes (New York, c. 1807). Finally, dance instructions for "The Ball" are contained in several American dance publications and manuscripts. [Preceding information from Keller, Camus, Cifraldi: Early American Secular Music and Its European Sources, 1589-1839, 2002].

Printed sources: Callaghan (Hardcore English), 2007; pg. 56. Kidson (Old English Country Dances), 1890; pg. 13. Mattson & Walz (Old Fort Snelling), 1974; pg. 49. Trim (Thomas Hardy Collection), 1990; No. 87.

Recorded sources: Maggie's Music MMCD216, Hesperus - "Early American Roots" (1997).

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