Annotation:Staines Morris (3)

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STAINES MORRIS [1]. AKA - "Stanes Morris." English, Air and Country Dance Tune (4/4 or 6/4 time). E Minor (Bacon, Kidson, Raven): D Minor (Williamson): D Dorian (Chappell): G Dorian (Barnes, Sharp). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC (Sharp): AAB (Kidson): AABCC (Raven): AABB (Barnes, Chappell). This version of the "Staines Morris" first appears in an instrumental version in William Ballet's Lute Book (1595) and in the Trumbull Lute Book, and was printed with dance instructions in "much altered" form in Playford's English Dancing Master [1] of 1650-51 (as "Stanes Morris"), and in the editions of 1657 and 1665, after which it was dropped from the long-running Dancing Master series of editions. It was the first published morris country dance. The melody has been popular for centuries and exists in several different variations (see "Staines Morris (1)" and "Staines Morris (2)").

There is a town of Staines on the Thames River, but whether the title is associated with it is not known. The tune was used for a morris dance of the same name in the Cotswold village of Longborough, Gloucestershire.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; p. 255. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time, vol. 1), 1859; p. 243. Kidson (Dances of the Olden Time), 1910; p. 10. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pp. 34 & 46. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909; p. 25. Williamson (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes), 1976; p. 17.

Recorded sources: - Carthage CGLP 4406, Hutchings et al - "Morris On" (1972/1983). Maggie’s Music MMCD216, Hesperus - “Early American Roots” (1997).