Annotation:Monk's March
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MONK'S MARCH. AKA and see "General Monk's Goosestep," "Lord Monk's March," "Review (2) (The)," "Belle Isle's March." English, Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Carlin): AABB (x4), AA (Mallinson): AABA (x4) AA (Bacon). Kidson (Groves) says a tune by this name first appears in Playford's Dancing Master of 1665 as "The L(ord) Monks March"; however, it was actually introduced in the supplement to the 3rd edition of the Dancing Master (1657). The melody was in tradition was collected from dancers in the village Sherborne, Gloucestershire, in England's Cotswolds. It is still popular in English sessions in modern times, although considered to be a 'beginner's tune'. The dance itself is a heel-and-toe step dance which is said to be a satire on a Colonel or General Monck, who, while he sympathized with the Royalist cause during the English Civil War, fought on the side of Cromwell's Roundheads. The story goes that Monck resolved his moral conflict by marching to battle so slowly that he missed each conflict.
In Wales the same tune is known as well as "Flaunting Two" (printed in 1794), and also as "Hemp Dressers (The)" and "The Monks March." The latter is said in Wales not to refer to General Monck, but rather to a melody sung by the monks of Bangor who were massacred in 613. Another variant of the melody is the Northumbrian "Proudlock's Hornpipe." Regarding the alternate title "Belle Isle's March," Kate Van Winkler Keller (1992) suggests it may refer to the small island of Belle-Île-en-Mer, located off the coast of Brittany, that was occupied by the British from 1761 to 1763. The march was published in a song-sheet under the "Bellisle" title to commemorate the occasion in 1763 when King George III reviewed troops in Hyde Park. Interestingly, as "Belisle March" it appears in the music manuscript book of a Revolutionary War soldier in America (see note for "Annotation:Belle Isle's March").
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; p. 287. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 34, p. 31. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988, vol. 2; No. 9, p. 6.
Recorded sources: EMI/Harvest 7243 8 29861 2 6, Ashley Hutchings et al - "Son of Morris On" (1976/1994). Topic TSCD458, John Kirkpatrick - "Plain Capers" (1976/1992).