X:1
T:Major Spicer
M:6/8
L:1/8
R:Jig
B:WM Cahusac - Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1809, No. 1
N:"With proper Directions to each Dance as they are performed at
N:Court, Bath, and all Public Assemblys."
Z:Transcribed and edited by Fynn Titford-Mock, 2007
Z:abc's:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:A
e/d/|c2c dcd|e2c a2f|e2c AGA|{GA}B2G E2e/d/|
c2c dcd|e2c a2f|ecA {c}BAB|(A3 A2):|
|:G/A/|B2B Bcd|{cd}e2c A2 A/G/|F2F FGA|{GA}B2G E2 G/A/|
B2B Bcd|e2c a2f|ecA AGA|c3 B2:|]
MAJOR SPICER. AKA - "Major Spice," "Major Spicer's Fancy," "Miss Spicer," "Miss Spicer's Fancy," "Mrs. Spiers." English, Jig (6/8 time). G Major (Harding, Knowles): A Major (Cahusac). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody (as "Major Spicer") also appears in the Gentlemens Amusement No. 2, published in New York in 1812. However, the earliest appearance of the title is in John Fentum's Eight Cotillions, Six Country Dances and a Minuet, for the Year 1791 (London). Dance instructions for the tune appear in London dancing master Thomas Wilson's The Treasures of Terpsichore, or a Companion for the Ball-Room (1809). Multi-instrumentalist John Rook, of Waverton, near Wigton, Cumbria, entered the tune in his large 1840 music manuscript collection as "Miss Spicer's Fancy." Similarly, County Cork Church of Ireland cleric and uilleann piper biography:James Goodman entered the tune (as "Miss Spicer") in vol. 4 of his mid-19th century music manuscript collection. Similarly, it appears in the c. 1815 music manuscript copybook of Matthew Betham, Towcett, Cumbria, as "Mrs. Spiers."
Additional notes
Printed sources : - Cahusac (Annual Collection of Twenty-Four Country Dances for the Year 1809), 1809; No. 1. Fentum (Eight Cotillions, Six Country Dances and a Minuet, for the Year 1791), 1791. Harding (Harding's All Round Collection of Jigs, Reels and Country Dances), 1905; No. 85, p. 27. Knowles (Northern Frisk), 1988; No. 85, p. 27.
