Annotation:Amarillis

Back to Amarillis

AMARILLIS. AKA - "Amaryllis." English, Country Dance Tune (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The melody and dance instructions first appear in John Playford's (1623-1686) Dancing Master, 2nd Supplement to the 3rd edition (1665). Chappell set the tune in E flat major although most modern versions are in 'G'. The tune appears in many works, including Porter's play The Villain (1663), Merry Drollery Complete (1670), The New Academy of Compliments; and Playford's Dancing Master (1665), Musick's Delight on the Cithern (1666), and Apollo's Banquet (1670). A popular tune, it was used following the convention of the period as the vehicle for numerous 18th century ballads, according to Chappell (1859), including "The Coy Shepherdess; or Phillis and Amintas" (Roxburghe Collection) {from which title the ballad was sometime known as "Phillis (or Amintas) on the new-made hay"}; "'Love in the blossom' or 'Fancy in the bud'" (Roxburghe); "Fancy's Freedom' or 'True Lovers' bliss'" (Roxburghe); "'The True Lovers' Happiness' or 'Nothing venture, nothing have, &c'" (Douce Collection/Roxburghe): "The Cotsall (Cotswold) Shepherds" (Folly in Print, or a Book of Rhymes" {1667}); "'The Virgin's Constancy' or 'The True Lovers' Happiness'" and "'The True Lovers' Happiness' or 'Nothing venture, nothing have'" (Pepys Collection).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Barlow (Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master), 1985; No. 165, p. 47. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time, vol. 2), 1859; pp. 12-13. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909; p. 25. Watson (A Rollick of Recorders Or Other Instruments), 1975; No. 8, p. 9.

Recorded sources: