Annotation:Bridge of Lodi (The)
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BRIDGE OF/AT LODI, THE. AKA and see "Douglas," "Down Back o' Shoddy," "Hell on the Potomac (3)," "Hunter's Hornpipe (1)," "Huntsman's Hornpipe," "Lochmaben Hornpipe," "Lord Nelson's Hornpipe (1)," "Nelson's Hornpipe (2)," "Saxon's Hornpipe," "Stage Hornpipe (4) (The)." Scottish, English; Hornpipe. C Major (Carlin): D Major (Raven). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A very popular hornpipe melody that exists in 19th century publications and musicians' copybooks under a variety of titles, dating to the very early 1800's. It was printed under the "Lodi" title in London in J. Ball's Gentleman's Amusement, Book 3 (1815), and in dancing master Thomas Wilson's Companion to the Ballroom (1816). In America it appears in Paff's Gentleman's Amusement No. 1 (N.Y. c. 1812) and the music copybooks of P. Van Schaack (1820, Kinderhook, N.Y.) and William Patten (Philadelphia, Pa.?, 1800?).
The Bridge of Lodi, Italy, was the site of one of Napoleon's earliest and most important victories in Italy, early in his career. The melody appears under this title in the music manuscripts of William Clarke (Feltwell, Norfolk) dated 1858. Dorset writer Thomas Hardy wrote a poem called "The Bridge of Lodi," inspired twofold by the hornpipe and by a trip to Italy in the Spring of 1887. The first two stanzas begin:
When of tender mind and body,
I was moved by minstrelsy,
And that air "The Bridge of Lodi"
Brought a strange delight to me.
In the battle-breathing jingle
Of its forward-footing tune
I could see the armies mingle,
And the columns crushed and hewn.
See also the Irish variant "Murray's Hornpipe (1)."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; p. 99 (#170). Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 163. Westrop (120 Country Dances, Jigs, Reels, Hornpipes, Strathspeys, Spanish Waltz etc. for the Violin), c. 1923; No. 95. Wilson (Companion to the Ballroom), 1816; p. 132.
Recorded sources: