Beggar Boy (The)
<abc float="left"> X:1 T:Beggar Boy, The M:6/8 L:1/8 S:Sharp - Country Dance Tunes Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Gmin (GGG e2e | dB2 c2)(B | G E2 F2) (F | G2_A B G2) | (GGG e2e | dB2 c2) (B | GE2 F2)(F | G2_A B G2) || |: (GGG e2) (e | dB2 c2)(B | GB2) (dcd | eG2 F3) | (GBB) (d>cB) | (cef/e/ dec) | (BGE F2) (F | G2_A B G2) :||
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BEGGAR BOY, THE. English, Country Dance Tune (6/4 time). C Major (Chappell): D Minor (Barlow, Johnson): G Minor (Barnes, Sharp). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB (Sharp): AABC (Chappell): AABB (Barlow, es, Johnson). The air appears in it's earliest printing John Playford's first edition of his English Dancing Master (1651). Chappell (1859) notes several ballads were written to the tune, as was the convention of the period with a popular melody.
Printed sources: Barlow (Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master), 1985; No. 7, pg. 18. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1989. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), vol. 1, 1859; pg. 307. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician No. 14: Songs, Airs and Dances of the 18th Century), 1997; pg. 3. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 37. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909; pg. 21.
Recorded sources: Dorian 90238, The Baltimore Consort - "A Trip to Killburn." Harmonia Mundi 907101, The King's Noyse - "The King's Delight: 17c Ballads for Voice and Violin Band" (1992).
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