Annotation:School for Lovers (The)
SCHOOL FOR LOVERS, THE. English, Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC. Cosi Fan Tutti (School for Lovers) is the name of Amadeus Mozart’s last opera, however, the earlier School for Lovers (to which the title of the tune refers to) is the name of an English comedy by William Whitehead (1715-1785). Originally staged in 1762, played by actors David Garrick, Sir John; Mrs. Clive, Armentina; and Mrs. Cibber, Celia. The jig “School for Lovers” appears in the 1770 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician William Vickers, about whom unfortunately nothing is known. It was printed by Charles and Samuel Thompson in Thompson’s Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3 (London, 1773). Country dance directions for the tune were printed in Phinney’s Select Collection of the Newest and Most Favorite Country Dances (Ostego, New York, 1808), in Saltator’s Treatise on Dancing (Boston, 1807), and in Benjamin Walker’s Orders for a Dancing School (Lunenburg, Virginia, 1784). In manuscript form, dance directions are found in an anonymous commonplace book from New Hampshire, c. 1795, labelled “Square Dances.” '