Annotation:Parson upon Dorothy

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PARSON UPON DOROTHY. AKA – “Shepherd's Daughter (2) (The).” English, Country Dance Tune (2/2 time). G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC. “Parson upon Dorothy” first appears in the second edition of John Playford’s Dancing Master (London, 1652). The melody was retained in all subsequent editions of the long-running Dancing Master series, through the 18th, published in 1728 by John Young. It also appears in John Walsh’s Compleat Country Dancing Master (London, 1718, and later editions of 1731 and 1754), and is the vehicle for songs in several ballad operas, including John Gay’s Polly (1729), Ebenezer Forrest’s Momus Turn’d Fabulist, or Vulcan’s Wedding, and George Lillo’s Silvia (1731). The melody was also included by London musician Thomas Hammersley in his c. 1790 music manuscript collection.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Barlow (Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford’s Dancing Master), 1985; No. 107, p. 37. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes, vol. 2), 2005; p. 99.

Recorded sources: Wildgoose Records WGS 304CD, Belshazzar’s Feast – “John Playford’s Secret Ball” (2001).

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