Annotation:Prince George's Rigadoon

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PRINCE GEORGE'S RIGADOON. English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody was first published in John Johnson’s Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 6 (London, 1751). It was included in the 1788 music manuscript copybook of fiddlers John Turner and William Pitt Turner of Norwich, Connecticut. The title refers to Prince George (1738-1820), who became King George III in 1760, the first Hanoverian monarch for whom English was his first language. A 'rigadoon' (rigaudon) was sprightly folk dance that originated in France and became popular with both the French and English courts. The name supposedly derives from a dancing master from Marseille named Rigaud, who is thought to have introduced the dance to Parisian society in 1630.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 1), 1757; No. 4.

Recorded sources:

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