Annotation:Gray's Opera House

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GRAY'S OPERA HOUSE. AKA and see "Double Clog Dance." American, Clog. G Major ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. There was a Gray's Opera House on Main Street, in Romeo, Macomb, Michigan, built in 1869 by three sons of a Scottish physician, Hugh, James and Noah Gray. The theatre served as a venue for travelling plays such as Uncle Tom's Cabin and East Lynn (and probably minstrel shows as well), later serving as a community center and a Masonic Temple. A Gray's Opera House also existed in Houston, Texas, saved from fire in 1875. Oscar Wilde lectured there in 1882. However, the title probably refers to a venue closer to publisher Elias Howe's Boston, Massachusetts, base.

Howe had earlier published the tune (in a few of his publications) as "Double Clog Dance", attributed to Jimmy Norton, the "'Boss' Jig Player", to whom a number of compositions are credited in various Howe publications. Unfortunately nothing is known of Norton. Most of the tune (save the beginning of the second part) was amalgamated by Francis O'Neill for his "Star Hornpipe (1)."

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 121. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 159.

Recorded sources:

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