Annotation:King of Denmark's Favourite (The)
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KING OF DENMARK'S FAVOURITE, THE. AKA and see "Cottillon La Promenade," "Prominade (La)." English, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. At least one editor has noted that in places the melody bears a resemblance to a tune called "Sweets of May." The melody was originally published in Charles and Samuel Thompson's Compleat Collection, vol. 3 (London, 1773). Music manuscript versions can be found in the copybook collections of William Vickers (1770, Northumberland), Fife Major Nathaniel Brown (1781, entries while in service in Durham, Conn., and Verplank's Point, N.Y.), and flute player Ralph Pomeroy (1790, New Haven and Hartford, Conn.). Similarly, dance figures appear in publications and manuscripts from the latter 18th century. Titles or alternate titles given are "La Promenade St. Cloud" (Pomeroy), "Laprom C(ountry) Dance" (Brown), and "La Promendae Cottillon" (Vickers). While the title may refer to a favorite melody, it may also refer to one Count Holke, known as the King of Denmark's Favourite, a retainer ('Master of his Majesty's Wardrobe") who accompanied the Danish monarch and his prime minister on a visit to England in 1768. The young Holke (he was aged 23 at the time) was a handsome and flippant man, whom Walpole concluded was a "complete jackanapes."
Source for notated version: William Vickers' 1770 music manuscript collection (Northumberland) [Seattle].
Printed sources: Seattle (Great Northern/William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 249. Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3), 1773; No. 158.
Recorded sources: