Annotation:Charles of Sweden
X:1 T:Charles of Sweden M:C| L:1/4 S:The Village Opera Z:Bruce Olson K:Ddor GG|EF/G/AA|G2(A/B/)c|Bc/d/ed|c2|| ef/e/|dc/B/cd|BGAB/c/|Bc/d/ (c/d/)e/f/|d2||]
CHARLES OF SWEDEN. AKA and see "Cheat (The)," "Come Jolly Bacchus," "Coquette (3)," "Devil to Pay (The)," "(Glorious) First of August (The)," "Frisky Jenny," "Gallant Weaver (The)," "Twenty First of August," "Tenth of June (The)," "Weaver's March (1) (The)." English, Scottish; Air. England, Northumberland. This old English air or march appears under this title in the early 18th century operas The Devil to Pay and The Rival Milliners; or, The Humours of Covent Garden. See Chappell's (1859) note for "Come Jolly Bacchus" and Bayard's (1981) note for "Pretty Polly (5)" for more information. It is one of the "missing tunes" from William Vickers' 1770 Northumbrian dance manuscript and is probably related to "Charles the 12th King of Swedene's March" that appears in the Gillespie Manuscript of 1768 (see also note for "King of Sweden's March"). Emmerson (1972) remarks that the association of Charles the XII of Sweden with Scotland is doubtless through the many Scottish officers who served with him, as they did with his more famous predecessor, Gustavus Adolphus. Charles died in 1718. The melody was used in several ballad operas of the early 18th century: as "Charles of Sweden" it appears in Charles Coffey's ballad opera The Devil to Pay (1731) and as an untitled tune in The Village Opera (1729), although the latter differs significantly from Playford's Dancing Master version (see "Frisky Jenny").
A version of the tune, distanced from the original, is "Myghtern Sweden," or "The King of Sweden," AKA "Plethen Mestre Martin/Mr. Martin's Reel," collected in Cornwall, England, by R. Mortan Nance for use with his Cledry Plays, but was never published[1]. The tune is also known as "Marriage may become a curse."
