English Country Dances
$12.50
| PDF or LHS | Downloadable |
|---|---|
| Difficulty Level | Intermediate |
| Harp Type | Lever Harp, Pedal Harp |
| Accompaniment | Solos |
During the Baroque period, “consort music” held the most significant position in instrumental music. The English were particularly well-known for their excellence in both harpsichord and viol music, as seen in the collections of John Playford, William Lawes, John Jenkins, Matthew Locke, and Christopher Gibbons. John Playford’s career as a music publisher began during the English commonwealth, during which time church organs were destroyed by official order, although chamber organs were left untouched. Playford’s collections are compilations of the outstanding secular instrumental chamber music of the period. Examples of his publications include: Banquet of Music (1652), Musick’s Recreation on the Lyra Viol (1652), Brief Introduction to the Skill of Musick (1658), Courtly Masquing Ayres (1662), Musick’s Handmaid (1678), and Division Violin (1685). His most important collections are the Court Ayres (1655 and 1662), which contained more than 500 dances to which almost every composer of the time contributed, and The English Dancing Master (1651).
The latter, which serves as the basis for these arrangements, contains 105 melody lines with instructions for dancing. John Playford probably had several friends assist him in the composition of these dances, for there are many inconsistencies in the spelling of the dance titles, as well as clear stylistic differences among the various dances. Playford’s dances are based on various traditional ballad tunes and instrumental dance melodies of sometimes obscure origin. Some of the more common tunes can be traced back to Elizabethan and Jacobean composers, or are based on famous Italian bass grounds, such as the passamezzo antico and romanesco.
In this collection, I have updated the titles of the original 1651 edition to reflect modern English spelling. So that the entire book can be played “as is” with minimal disruption in the dances, they have been placed in “key order” (using only the keys of C, G, and D or their relative minors) in order to facilitate lever changes, alternating tempos and meters. Whenever a double bar appears, the harper has the option of repeating that section as might be done while accompanying actual dance. Enjoy!!
