Annotation:Ridotta (The)

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X:1 T:Ridotta. JJo2.001, The Q:1/2=90 L:1/8 B:J.Johnson Choice Collection Vol 2 after c1750 Z:vmp.Mike Hicken 2014 www.village-music-project.org.uk M:C| K:G V:1 clef=treble name="1." [V:1] G2G2G2 FE|DCB,A, G,EFG|A2A2A2 Bc|dBAF E3F| G2G2G2 FE|DCB,A, G,A,B,C|dBcA BGAF|GEDB, G,4 :| |:d2d2d2 ef|gfgd e4|d2cB cBAG|ABcE F2 ED| G2e2 F2d2|E2c2D2 EF|G2 FE DCB,A,|B,GA,F|G4 :|

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RIDOTTA, THE. AKA and see "Portobello/Portabello Hornpipe." English, Hornpipe (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "The Ridotta" is a version of "Portobello Hornpipe," the latter being a somewhat more developed variant. "Ridotta" seems to have been published mid-18th century and in circulation prior to the "Portobello" strain, but both coexisted for some time, although the "Ridotta" strain does not seem to have survived the 18th century. "The Ridotta" was published in several major London collections of the mid-18th century: Walsh printed it in Caledonian Country Dances and Compleat Country Dances Master vol. 6 (1754), John Johnson issued it in Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances vol. 2 (1742 or after 1750), and John Simpson in Delightful Pocket Companion, vol. 2 (c. 1750).

A 'Ridotta' or 'Ridotto' referred to ridotto was a public ball, typically a masquerade, popular in the 18th century. The word had other meanings, however: it also was a concert hall in whose raised balcony the musicians performed, although the name also could refer to the foyer of a theater where people would go for refreshments during intermissions. Il Ridotto (It.: 'The private space') also referred to several illegal, privately owned gambling clubs that offered games of chance to members of Venice's nobility in the city's Rialto District, dating from 1638.

The Wikipedia entry for wikipedia:Masquerade_ball records: "A Swiss count who arrived in Italy in 1708, is credited with introducing to London the Venetian fashion of a semi-public masquerade ball, to which one might subscribe, with the first being held at Haymarket Opera House. London's public gardens, like Vauxhall Gardens, refurbished in 1732, and Ranelagh Gardens, provided optimal outdoor settings, where characters masked and in fancy dress mingled with the crowds. The reputation for unseemly behavior, unescorted women and assignations motivated a change of name, to the Venetian ridotto, but as "The Man of Taste" observed in 1733":

In Lent, if masquerades displease the town,
Call 'em Ridottos and they still go down.

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