Annotation:Pleasures of the Town (3) (The)
X:104 T:Pleasures of the Town. THO4.104, The O:England;London M:C L:1/8 Z:vmp. Peter Dunk 2010/11.from a transcription by Fynn Titford-Mock 2007 S:Thompson's Compleat Coll. of 200 Favourite Country Dances Vol.IV. 1773-80 Q:1/4=140 K:Bb (fd)(fd) (Bd)(cB)|(cd)(Bc) A2F2|(GB)(Ac) (Bd)(ce)|(df)(ed) {d2}c4| (fd)(fd) (Bd)(cB)|(cd)(Bc) A2F2|(GB)(Ac) (Be)(dc)|d2 Tc2 B4:| |:(Bd)(fb) (ba)(Tgf)|g2g2Tg2f2|(gf)(ed) (ed)(cB)|A2TB2c2c2| (Bd)(fb) (ba)(Tgf)|g2g2Tg2f2|(gf)(ed) (ed)(cB)|F2TA2 B4:|
PLEASURES OF THE TOWN [3], THE. English, Country Dance Tune (whole time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody was printed by Charles and Samuel Thompson in their Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 4 (London, 1780, No. 104) and by Longman and Broderip in their own Compleat Collection of 200 Favorite Country Dances (London, 1781, p. 35). The tune was entered into the music manuscript collections of musician Thomas Hammersly (London, 1790) and biography:John Roose (Manchester, England, c. 1850), and the American copybook of John and William Pitt Turner (Norwich, Conn., 1788). Many of the Thompson's tunes were copied by the Turners, who must have had access to the publication, however, the Tuners also had another "Pleasures of the Town (4)" tune in 6/8 time in their copybook as well.
The tune may be associated with a revival of Henry Fielding's (1707-1754) successful comedy Wikipedia:The_Author's_Farce and the Pleasures of the Town, first staged in 1730 but performed throughout the century. In the second act, the protagonist, a struggling playwright, finishes a puppet theatre play titled The Pleasures of the Town, about the Goddess Nonsense's choice of a husband from allegorical representatives of theatre and other literary genres.
