Annotation:Herefordshire Lasses (The)
X:1 T:Herefordshire Lasses, The M:2/4 L:1/8 S:Frank Kidson - Old English Country Dances (1890) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G GB/d/ c/A/F/D/|G/B/d/g/ dc/B/|c/e/A/c/ B/d/G/B/|A/c/F/A/ GG,:| |:dB/c/ dB/c/|d/g/f/e/ ed|gg/e/ ff/d/|e/g/e/^c/ dD| G B/d/ c/A/F/D/|G/B/d/g/ dc/B/|c/e/A/c/ B/d/G/B/|A/c/A/F/ G2:||
HEREFORDSHIRE LASSES. AKA and see "Nouvelle Angloise (La)." English, Country Dance Tune (2/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABA. Herefordshire is a southern county in England near the border with Wales. Hereford is an Anglo-Saxon name meaning "army ford" and referring to a crossing place on the Severn river that was apparently quite important during times of conflict (Matthews, 1972). The air is from Longman, Lukey & Co. Twenty-four Country Dances for 1772, and Longman, Lukey & Broderip's 1776 publication Bride's Favorite Collection of Two Hundred Select Country Dances, Cotillons (London, p. 58). The Herefordshire Lasses is also the name of a country dance. The exact same tune appears five years later in Glasgow publisher James Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1 (1782) as "Nouvelle Angloise (La)."
Frank Kidson maintains the tune is a variant of the "To Rodney We will go" song and tune family.
