Annotation:Dove's Figary
Tune properties and standard notation
DOVE'S FIGARY. AKA - "Chestnut." English, Country Dance Tune (2/2 time). A Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody appears as "Chestnut" (with "Dove's Figary" as an alternate title) in John Playford's English Dancing Master (1651, p. 85) as a vehicle for a longways dance for six. It was also published by J. Johnson in Wright's Compleat Collection of Celebrated Country Dances, c. 1740-2. 'Figary' is a word derived from the word 'vagery', and means a frolic or whim; a synonym perhaps for the word 'maggot' as used to refer to dance tunes.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Barlow (Complete Collection of Playford's Country Dance Tunes), 1986; No. 14, p. 19. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 13 & p. 45 ("Chestnut").
Recorded sources: