Annotation:Enrico
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ENRICO. AKA - "Henryco," "Water Loo Fair." AKA and see "Jacob." English, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody's original title was "Jacob," but was said to have been re-titled by English author and amateur musician Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). However, the name "Enrico" seems to have been attached to the tune before Hardy's time. It was also said to have been his favorite tune (although "Soldier's Joy" also is credited as such). The title appears in Hardy's (who was also an accomplished accordion player and fiddler) drama The Dynasts:
Let us go and look at the dancing. It is 'Voulez-vous danser'
- no, it is not, - it is 'Enrico' - two ladies between two gentlemen.
According to Hardy's biography, the four-year old Hardy would sometimes burst into tears when his father played this and other tunes to him on the fiddle. Hardy, around the year 1925, wrote that "Enrico" was the usual vehicle for the country dance called Bonnets of Blue, or in Dorset when he was young, Hands Across. In his novel Under the Greenwood Tree the dance is described (but not named) as the one in which Shiner refuses to cast off (E.F.D.S. News, No. 12, Sept., 1926). The 19th century Welch family (Bosham, Sussex) music manuscripts gives the alternate title "Water Loo Fair" (whilst calling "Enrico" by the name "Henryco"). The Rev. Robert Harrison (Brampton, Cumbria, 1820) music manuscript gives the title as "Errico," and W. Cock's (Northumberland) manuscript collection has it as "Henrico." James Haslingden (Midlands?, 1827), Miss Best (c. 1850), and a manuscript of unknown date and origin (called MS36) all contain the melody under the "Enrico" title.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes, vol. 2), 2005; p. 42 (appears as "Fast Packet", the name of a dance by Bob Lily set to the tune). Songer (Portland Collection, vol. 2), 2005; p. 57. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 13 (appears as "Jacob").
Recorded sources: Beautiful Jo Records BEJOCD-28, The Mellstock Band - "The Dance at Pheonix: Village Band Music from Hardy's Wessex and Beyond" (1999). EFDSSCD13, Julian Goodacre - "Hardcore English" (2007. Various artists). Mrs. Casey Records 3991, Eliza Carty & Nancy Kerr (1993. Appears as "Waterloo Fair or the Henryco"). White House WHCD03, Julian Goodacre - "Pipemaker Calls Yer Tunes."
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