Annotation:Mrs. Casey (1)
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MRS. CASEY. AKA – "Mrs. Casey's Lament." AKA and see “Billy O'Rourke's the Buachaill (1)," "Miss Casey (2).” English, Air, Jig and Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time); Scottish, Jig. E Minor (Bacon Ascot, Mallinson, Raven): A Minor (Bacon Fieldtown, Howe, Kerr, O'Flannagan, Thompson): B Minor (Gibbons, Kennedy): E Minor (Thompson/Hibernian). Standard tuning. AB {x5}, A (Bacon, Mallinson): ABA (Howe): AABB (Kennedy, Kerr). The late Bruce Olson believes the title comes from a song by playwright John O’Keefe in his play Fontainbleu (1784), which begins “The British Lion is my sign” (see Elliot and Kay [1788]). The Gows printed a version of the tune as “Madam Cassey” and included it in a section of ‘Fashionable Dances in Edinr. 1787-88’, about the same time it was published by the London firm of Samuel, Ann and Peter Thompson (in their Hibernian Muse and Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 5). As a morris dance tune, it was played for dances in the villages of Ascot under Wychwood (Oxfordshire) and Fieldtown (Leafield, Oxfordshire), in England's Cotswolds.
Source for notated version: the 1823–26 music mss of papermaker and musician Joshua Gibbons (1778–1871, of Tealby, near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire Wolds) [Sumner].
Printed sources:
Bacon (Handbook of Morris Dances), 1974; pp. 22 & 160.
Elliot and Kay (Calliope), 1788; p. 378 (as "The British Lion is My Sign").
Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 114.
Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune-Book: Jigs & Quicksteps, Trips & Humours), 1997; No. 120, p. 29.
Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 3), c. 1880's; No. 299, p. 32.
Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book, vol. 1), 1988; No. 48, p. 30.
O'Flannagan (The Hibernia Collection), 1860; p. 8.
Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 7.
Sumner (Lincolnshire Collections, vol. 1: The Joshua Gibbons Manuscript), 1997; p. 19.
Samuel, Anne & Peter Thompson (The Hibernian Muse), London, 1787; No. 6, p. 4.
Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 5), 1788; p. 6.
Wilson (A Companion to the Ballroom), 1816; p. 89.
Recorded sources: