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X:1
T:Lady Bartlett’s Whim
M:C|
L:1/8
R:Country Dance Tune
B:Elias Howe – Musician’s Omnibus Nos. 6 & 7 (Boston, 1880-1882, p. 643)
B: http://ks4.imslp.net/files/imglnks/usimg/c/c7/IMSLP601433-PMLP562790-ONeill_Rare_Medium_M40_M8_v6.7_text.pdf
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:G
(3DEF|G2G2 BdcB|ABcA GFED|G2 GD EB,A,|G,2 cB AG (3DEF|
G2G2 BdBG|ABcA GFED|G2 GD ECB,A,|B,cBA G2G2:|
|:B2B2 cBAG|Bdgf gdBG|A2 AF AcAF|GGDD CB,A,B,|
B2B2 cBAG|Bdgf gdBG|A2A2 FGAF|G2G2G2z2:|
B2d2 dgfg|agfe edcB|c2e2 ddcB|ABcd cBAG|
B2d2 dgfg|agfe edcB|cdef edcB|dcBA G2G2||
|:G2D2G2D2|GBcA GFED|G2D2G2D2|GEDC B,A,B,G,|
G2D2G2D2|GBcA GFED|G2D2 GDB,A,|B,2D2G,2z2:|]
LADY BARTLETT'S WHIM. American (?), Reel (2/4 time). USA, New England. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCD: AABBCCDD. Dance instructions for "Lady Bartlet(t)'s Whim" appear in several New England copybooks and publications from the late 1790's and the early decades of the 19th century. Some of them are Saltator's (a pseudonmym) A Treatise on Dancing (Boston, 1802), Samuel Preston's An Elegant Collection of New Figures (Amherst, Mass., 1798), and a volume entitled A New Collection of Country Dances, for the Use of Dancing Assemblies published in Leominster, Mass., in 1799. Music for the reel was entered into the 1826-1859 music manuscript collection by anonymous musicians, probably from the state of Maine, entitled ”Melodist: A Collection of music in two volumes" (No. 30, p. 17).
Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Joseph Taggard Collection (Concord, N.H.) [Miller]. Source Taggart noted: "The favourite dance of Betsy Spofford and Joseph Barnes." Also in the possession of the New Hampshire Historical Society is a volume published by Samuel Preston in 1798 in Amherst, New Hampshire, called "An Elegant Collection of New Figures...For the Use of Dancing Schools." The work contains dance figures only, one of which is Lady Bartlett's Whim. Source for notated version: the 1938 typewritten manuscript of New Hampshire fiddler John Taggart (New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, N.H.). Taggart (1854-1943), born and raised in Sharon, New Hampshire, and was a onetime orchestra leader and composer. Taggart wrote in his ms. that the tunes "were all taught me during my boyhood days in Sharon (N.H.), by the various fiddlers in that vicinity." Miller points out that Sharon is in "the heart of the Monadnock Region of southwestern New Hampshire, where fiddlers and contra dances abound to this day" (pref. iv) [Miller].
Printed sources : - Elias Howe (Third Part of the Musician's Companion), 1844; p. 68. Boston, 1880-1882, p. 643. Elias Howe (Musician’s Omnibus Nos. 6 & 7), Boston, 1880-1882; p. 643. Miller (Fiddler's Throne), 2004; No. 188, p. 119.
Recorded sources : - New Hampshire Fiddler's Union, Miller & Peery - "The Music of John Taggart" (1989). Rounder 7018, Frank Ferrel - "Boston Fiddle: The Dudley Street Tradition" (1996).
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