Playford's Dancing Master

[Martin Jonas]

I've been debating whether this thread belongs in the "Classical, Medieval, Renaissance" forum or the "Celtic, European Folk" forum. In the end I decided that Playford comes under "Renaissance" and owes more to early music than to folk forms.

A few weeks ago, I bought a wonderful book containing every single tune published in any of the 17 editions of Playford's Dancing Master between 1651 and 1728 -- edited by Jeremy Barlow (who recorded many great albums with the Broadside Band, including several CD of Playford tunes) and published in 1985 by Faber Music. I got my copy on Amazon UK for a very good GBP10.50 (about $16) including shipping (Link), and I'm very pleased with it.

There's a total of 535 different tunes in the book, all in the original key and with full annotations giving all of the changes and alternative version between the 17 editions and additional editorial performance suggestions. What I find particularly liberating is that there is no editorial process: every tune is here, so unlike most editions of Playford dances, nobody has picked any tunes that are particularly popular or canonical -- I find that most CD or renaissance tune collections just have the same ones over and over again.

I've been sitting down and just playing tunes at random. As nobody has any idea how these were played originally, I have just been playing them at whatever speed and whatever phrasing I thought felt right. Those that I liked and could make rhythmic sense of I have recorded on my Mid-Missouri and uploaded on Youtube. Some of these are well-known, but many are completely obscure and I've never heard them performed by anybody else. I particularly enjoyed "Never Love Thee More" from the 7th edition (1686) -- it works great as a slow air.

Here are the ones I've had a go at so far:

The Cobbler's Jig
Thomas You Cannot
Excuse Me
Pall-Mall or Pell-Mell
Greensleeves And Pudding Pies
Prince Rupert's March
Parson's Farewell
Amaryllis
Jamaica
Dunkirke
Sedany or Dargason
Buskin
Never Love Thee More
Mad Moll
Mr Lane's Maggot or Richmond Ball
Epping Forest
The Glory Of The West
The Duke Of Luxemburgh's March
Porter's Dream
An Italian Rant
Sweet Kate
Heart's Ease
Drive The Cold Winter Away
Lilli Burlero


Martin

[btrott]

Martin, this is an excellent collection. I have had my copy for years, and selected music from it to perform here in the museum in Colonial Williamsburg. Anther couple of great pieces from the collection are Mr. Bevridge's Maggot and Mr. Lane's Minuet.

Happy playing!

Barry

[JeffD]

I love Staines Morris, and Rufty Tufty. I have them written out in a great four part harmony.

[demotlj]

Jeff, would you be willing to share the four part arrangements of Staines Morris and Rufty Tufty or direct me to your source? I'm always looking for ensemble pieces for a small amateur group I play with and it's not always easy to find good pieces.

Laurie

[JeffD]

In addition, I love "Fine Companion" though it is played a lot and can get a little old.

Turns out I lied, they are written out in three parts. Two in G Clef and one in Bass Clef. One can look at it as melody instrument plus piano, but it really doesn't sound that way. The second Treble Clef part is really a fun harmony, and the piece sounds best if you cover all three parts with three or more insruments.

I played these a year or two back: mandolin and flute and or recorder on treble 1, french horn on treble 2 with guitar down an octave, and euphonium and or valve trombone on bass. It was stunning. Absolutely stunning. Easy music, but we all got teary eyed at how much the whole was bigger than the sum of each of our parts. The orchestration was because thats who showed up, but really, after hearing us, I would have picked those instruments.

Laurie my source is two publications I have had for ever. I don't know where I got them: Early Playford for Early Instruments, and Playford for Young String Players, both English Country Dance music arranged by Marshall Barron.

It says Playford Consort Publications, but I don't know if they still exist. English Country Dance enthusiasts would know where and how to get these two books.

[Martin Jonas]

Here's a PDF I downloaded a few months ago with three-part arrangements of various Playford tunes. I can't remember the site where I got these, but as it says "use freely", I don't think it's a problem to attach it here.

I'm not sure whether I have expressed myself sufficiently clearly in my original message, but what I meant to say is that I find it liberating to have a complete edition rather than a selection, as it allows me to approach the tunes without any preconception of which ones are the "good" ones or the ones that are widely played by the English country dance crowd. As far as I know there is no other complete print edition, although all (or just about all) are available online in ABC format.

Martin

[demotlj]

Thanks, Martin. These are great. Not only will these be fun for playing with others but I have software (SmartScore) that can turn pdfs into editable scores which I can then export as midis with one or more of the parts muted. That way I can play along with my ipod. Your gift of this pdf will keep me busy for quite some time!