Annotation:New Century (1) (The)
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NEW CENTURY [1], THE. English, American; Hornpipe. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune has been a popular hornpipe in New England and New York; it was listed as commonly played for Orange County, New York, country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly). Under the title "Crooked S (The)" the tune was in the repertoire of Champion, central New York State fiddler Winifred "Murph" Baker. White's Unique Collection (an Elias Howe company publication) identifies the 'new century' as the 20th century, however this is erroneous as the tunes provenance is from Britain. Jack Campin, for example, has found it in the flute manuscript of J. Crichton Donaldson, compiled between 1853 and 1855 (National Library of Scotland MS.22170).
A tune by this name (probably this one) was recorded in the 78 RPM era by fiddler John Baltzell (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) for Edison, but was unissued. New Century Hornpipe is also the name of a contra dance. Francis O'Neill printed a different hornpipe by the same name (see "New Century (2) (The)"), part of Irish repertory.
Source for notated version: New Hampshire Fiddlers' Union [Phillips].
Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 90. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; p. 210. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 189. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 123. White's Unique Collection, 1896; No. 111, p. 20.
Recorded sources: Shanachie Records, Norman Blake - "Far Away, Down on a Georgia Farm" (2005).
See also listing at:
See/hear guitarist Will Fly's version on youtube.com [1]
Hear fiddler José Zaffiro's 1918 recording of the tune at the Virtual Gramophone [2] (medley of hornpipes: "Fisher's," "Liverpool," "New century," "Durang's," "Vinton's").