Annotation:Buskin
X:1 T:Buskin M:C| L:1/8 S:Playford - Dancing Master (11th edition, 1701) K:D A2|d2 AG F2A2|B2 GF E2 FG|A2 FE D2F2|E2 CB, A,2A2| D2 AG F2B2|e2 cB A2f2|a2 fd A2c2|d6:| |:f2|f2df a2fd|f2 df e2 cA|d2 cd B2GB|e2 de A2ce| g2 ag b2ag|f2 df a2 fd|e2de A2c2|d6:||
BUSKIN. English, Country Dance Tune (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune and country dance directions ("Longways for as many as will") were printed by Henry Playford [1] (1657–c. 1707) in the 11th Edition of the Dancing Master (London, 1701), and in all subsequent editions until the 18th and last of the series, printed by John Young in 1728. It also appears in the Walsh's Compleat Country Dancing Master, printed in London in 1718, and reissued in 1731 and 1754. A buskin is a half-boot, which laces closed but is open across the toes. It was an ancient style often associated with soldiers and hunters in Greece and Rome, and also with the stage. Actors in tragic roles in Greek theatre wore buskins, differentiated from comic actors, who wore a thin-soled shoe called a sock.
According to Graham Christian (2015, p. 15), English composer Henry Purcell has been credited with the compostion of "Buskin," as part of the incidental music for Robert Gould's play The Rival Sisters, first performed in 1695. However, it has also been suggested (by Peter Holman) that, while Purcell may have composed the overture, the music for the acts may be the work of violinist John Ridgely. Christian suggests that "Buskin" may have been imported for John Dryden's revision and revival of John Fletcher's play The Pilgrim (1700), in which a musical entertainment called "The Secular Masque" was added by Dryden at the conclusion. During this, the goddess Diana (typically portrayed with buskins) sings a hunting song, followed by a "Dance of Diana's Attendants." Christian believes it was Ridgely's "Buskin" that was the vehicle for the dance, a transformed into a country dance the next year for Playford's Dancing Master.
