Annotation:Female Sailor (The)

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FEMALE SAYLOR/SAILOR, THE. English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). G Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Barnes): AABB' (Johnson). Originally French ("La Matelote"), the tune and dance were adopted by the English for a longways country dance in the first decade of the 18th century. The tune and dance originally appeared in Raoul-Auger Feuillet "Recueil de contredanses" (1706), reprinted in a translation by John Essex entitled For the Further Improvement of Dancing, published in London by the firm of Walsh & Randall in 1710. In the mid-19th century William Morris employed the melody for his Christmas Carol "Masters in this Hall," still in the holiday repertory.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes, vol. 1), 1986. Johnson (Twenty-Eight Country Dances as Done at the New Boston Fair), vol. 8, 1988; p. 4.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Hear the tune by Les Matelots on youtube.com [1]

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