Annotation:Fireman's Quickstep

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FIREMAN'S QUICKSTEP. American, Quickmarch (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The composition is credited to one (Alburton) A.F. Hopkins, "National Fife Major" (of the Association of Civil War musicians) in the American Veteran Fifer (1905), a collection of music drawn from Civil War and post-Civil War martial sources. Hopkins, who served with Co A, 154th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the conflict, appears to have edited the volume. The tune features a fire-alarm like motif in the 'B' part. Notwithstanding Hopkins' claim as composer, the march may be derivative (particularly in the first strain) of "Philadelphia Fireman's Cotillion (The)" an 1822 composition by Philadelphia African-American composer Francis Johnson. See also "Fireman's Dance Cotillion (The)" which may be another derivative version, from the playing of Pennsylvania fiddler Jehile Kirkhuff.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: American Veteran Fifer (1905), No. 36. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 52.

Recorded sources:

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