Annotation:First of August (The)

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FIRST OF AUGUST. AKA and see "Glorious First of August (The)," "Weaver's March (The)," "Gallant Weaver (The)," "Twenty-First of August," "Frisky Jenny," "Tenth of June (The)," "Come Jolly Bacchus," "Charles of Sweden," "Liffey Banks (The)." English. The title commemorates the accession of King George I, in 1714, according to Kidson (Groves), who believes Jones is wrong when he asserts it refers to the traditional date of the Britonnic Celtic festival of Lammas, one of the four great pagan festivals in the calendar year, or to the paying of Welsh tithes. The tune is sometimes claimed as Welsh, continued Kidson, as it was printed in that country in 1802 with the suggestion of antiquity, however, as "Frisky Jenny" the same melody appears in Playford's Dancing Master of the mid-17th century and was long a favorite in England. The claim for Welsh provenance has no merit, according to Kidson (Groves), who believes that it is probably Swedish (see his article in The Musical Times, Sept. 1895, p. 593). Samuel Bayard (in his article "A Miscellany of Tune Notes," Studies in Folklore, p. 171) finds "The First of August" in Edward Jones's The Bardic Museum (London: 1802; the second volume of his Relicks), p. 104 (referred to by Kidson, above), and in W. Bigley's Sixty of the Most Admired, etc., p. 41. He concludes it is "nothing but the once popular English 'Come Jolly Bacchus', or 'Glorious First of August'". Daniel Wright (1740) gives "Come Jolly Bacchus" as an alternate title for "First of August." The name "First of August" is also given to a Scots country dance.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Wright (Wright's Compleat Collection of Celebrated Country Dances), 1740; p. 61.

Recorded sources:

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