Annotation:Mrs. Clark's Hornpipe
X:18 T:Mrs Clark's Hornpipe. BHp.18 M:C| L:1/8 R:.Hornpipe Z:vmp. Peter Dunk 2013/15 B:Blackman - A Selection of the most favorite Hornpipes for the Violin ca1810-22 Q:1/2=80 K:Bb FE|DEFG ABcd|ecAc B2 df|gaba gfed|cBAG FEDC| DFBA BFED|EGcB cAGF|Bbge dfAc|B2B2B2:| |:BA|BdfB AcfA|GBeG FBdF|EFGA Bcde|fgec BAGF| BdfB AcfA|GBeG F2ED|Egfe dfAc| B2[B2D2][B2D2]:|
MRS. CLARK'S HORNPIPE. English, Hornpipe (cut time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The title probably refers to an actress or stage dancer, but without a first name she is hard to identify. Female performers in the 18th and early 19th centuries are referred to by the title of “Mrs.” after about the age of seventeen, whether or not they are married. A likely candidate is Mrs. Clark(e), a popular actress from Manchester, who appeared as Euphrasia in Murphy's tragedy The Grecian Daughter in London around 1809. The European Magazine and London Review (vol. 56, p. 385) recorded:
Mrs. Clarke possesses a pretty figure, rather elegant than commanding; her face, in some of its lincamentia, is not verydissimilar to that of Mrs. Sidonws: her voice is rather thin, and unequal to the enforcement of high indignation in such aspacious theatre: she was, therefore, most successful in the tender portions of the character. On the whole, however, sheis a very promising actress.
She was the youngest daughter of William Cowdroy, proprietor of the Manchester Gazette. Another periodical, the Monthly Mirror, wrote about her performance of Wed. 22nd:
...a young lady, only eighteen years of age, of the name of Clarke, the daughter of Mr. Cowdroy, proprietor of the Manchester Gazette, made her first appearance in any theatre on our boards, in the arduous character of Euphrasia, in Murphy's tragedy of the Grecian Daughter. Her reception on her entree was highly flattering, and at the close of the first act she received nine distinct rounds of applause. She walked the stage with an ease and elegance that would have done credit to the most experienced veteran; she possesses a find figure, a most expressive countenance.
"Mrs. Clark's Hornpipe" was also entered into the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of Manchester, England, musician biography:John Roose.
