Annotation:Farewell Manchester
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FAREWELL MANCHESTER. AKA and see "Felton's Gavot." English, Air, Country and Morris Dance Tune (2/4 time). D Mixolydian/G Major (Raven): E Flat Major (Chappell). Standard tuning. AB. The tune was composed early in the 18th century by the Reverend William Felton, prebendary of Hereford Cathedral, as a passage in one of his keyboard concertos published about 1740 or later by John Johnson of Cheapside, London (Kidson, Groves). It was later published with variations as "Felton's Gavot," and quickly gained popularity. Bremner published it in Edinburgh in 1756 in his Collection of Airs and Marches 'for two violins or German flutes'. At some point lyrics were adapted to the tune from which the title "Farewell Manchester" derives, though these lyrics have been 'lost to the ages'.
On the occasion of the conclusion of the peace of Aix-la-Chappelle, in October, 1748 (which ended the War of the Austrian Succession), a song was written to the air, beginning:
Fill, fill, fill the glass, briskly put it round...
The broadsheet was headed "Farewell Manchester, a song for three voices made on the Peace." Despite the fact that the peace song had nothing whatsoever to do with either ‘farewells’ or Manchester, it indicates that the "Farewell Manchester" title attached to the air was well-known at the time.
"Farewell Manchester" was also played by Jacobite troops, the story goes, as they retreated from England back to Scotland in 1745, quitting Manchester, a town that had once welcomed Prince Charlie's thrust for the throne, but which later had, as the tide turned, become hostile (Chappell, 1859; Winstock, 1970). Chappell (1859) states it was also played "when the unfortunate Manchester youth, Dawson, was executed in 1746." The morris dance version is from the area of Lichfield, England; there, the dance attached to this tune is called Ring O' Bells.
Source for notated version: Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), vol. 2, 1859; p. 91. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 91.
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