Annotation:Philadelphia Fireman's Cotillion (The)

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X:1 T:Philadelphia Fireman's Cotillion M:2/4 L:1/8 C:Francis Johnson (1792-1844) N:Composed in 1822 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:C cc BB|c/d/e/c/ Gz|AA d>c|B/d/g/^f/ a/g/=f/d/| cc BB|c/d/e/c/ G/c/B/c/|AA c/B/c/B/|[F2d2] [E2c2]:|| [Ge](3G/A/B/[Ec][Gd]|[Ge](3G/A/B/[Ec][Gd]|[Ge](c/d/) e/c/g/e/|[Gd] B/c/ d/B/c/d/| [Ge](3G/A/B/[Ec][Gd]|[Ge](3G/A/B/[Ec][Gd]|[Ge]f/e/ [Fd] A/B/|(6G/B/c/d/e/f/ (36g/f/e/d/c/B/|| .c.c .C.C|.G.G .G,.G,|AA d>c|(B/c/)(A/B/) (^F/G/A/B/)| .c.c .C.C|.G.G .G,.G,|AA d>c|B/G/A/B/ [E2c2]||



PHILADELPHIA FIREMAN'S COTILLION (THE). American, Country Dance Tune (2/4 time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABc. An 1822 dance composition [1] by Philadelphia composer, keyed bugle player, violinist Francis Johnson (1792-1844), who led an all-black orchestra that toured the United States and Europe. The piece is "respectfully dedicated to Members of the Fire Association". Derivative tunes have entered the tradition, including the "Fireman's Quickstep", a derivative fife tune from the American Veteran Fifer (1905, where it is credited to A.F. Hopkins), and "Fireman's Dance (The)", published in Trifet's Cornucopia of Music (1888). A tune called the "Fireman's Dance Cotillion (The)" was collected in the field from Pennsylvania fiddler Jehile Kirkhuff, and may be a very distanced version in the first strain of Johnson's tune.
Francis Johnson

See Annotation:Jim Brown for a caricature on a songsheet cover that has been suggested is based on Johnson. If so, it is an unfortunate denigration of the man's very real achievements.


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