Dances in The Country Dance Book (Part 2) (Cecil Sharp, 1911)
An online copy of the original may be found here.
Table of Contents
0-9
| The 29th of May ~ Sharp |  | John Playford 1686 Cecil Sharp 1911 | Colin Hume | Duple Minor |
A
À la Mode de France
| ||||||||||||||
| Amarillis ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1670 Cecil Sharp 1911 | At the Ball Bare Necessities | Duple Minor | ||||||||||
B
| The Beggar Boy | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | By Choice Bare Necessities | 3 Couple Longways |
| Black Jack | | John Playford 1670 Cecil Sharp 1911 |  | Duple Minor |
| The Black Nag ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | 3 Couple Longways |
| The Black Nagg ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | 3 Couple Longways |
C
| Cheerily and Merrily ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | 4 Couple Longways |
| Chestnut | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | A Playford Ball Bare Necessities | 3 Couple Longways |
| Cuckolds all a Row ~ Sharp | | Lovelace Manuscript ~1649 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | A Playford Ball Bare Necessities | Facing Couples |
| Cuckolds all Awry ~ Sharp | | Lovelace Manuscript ~1649 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | A Playford Ball Bare Necessities | Facing Couples |
D
| Dargason | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | A Playford Ball Bare Necessities | Custom |
| Dove's Figary | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | A Playford Ball Bare Necessities | 3 Couple Longways |
| Dull Sir John | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | Square |
F
| The Fine Companion | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | | Square |
G
| The Galloping Nag ~ 2 | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | 3 Couple Longways |
| Gathering Peascods | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | Circle as many as will |
| The Glory of the West ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | Facing Couples |
| Goddesses | | Lovelace Manuscript ~1649 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Assembly | | 4 Couple Longways |
| Grimstock ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | 3 Couple Longways |
H
| Hey, Boys, up Go We (Sharp) | | Lovelace Manuscript ~1649 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | A Playford Ball Bare Necessities | Facing Couples |
J
| Jamaica ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1670 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | Duple Minor |
| Jenny Pluck Pears | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | A Playford Ball Bare Necessities | 3 Couple Circle |
L
| London is a Fine Town | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | Duple Minor |
M
| Mage on a Cree ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | Square |
| Mr. Webb's Fancy ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | 4 Couple Longways |
| My Lady Cullen | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | Colin Hume | Duple Minor |
N
| New Bo-Peep ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | Longways as many as will | ||||||||||
Newcastle
| ||||||||||||||
Nonesuch
| ||||||||||||||
O
| Oranges and Lemons ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | Square |
| Oranges and Limons ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | Square |
P
| Parson's Farewell ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | Facing Couples |
| Pickadilla ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | Longways as many as will |
| Pickadilly ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | Longways as many as will |
| Putney Ferry | | John Playford 1670 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | 3 Couple Circle |
R
| Rufty Tufty | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | By Choice Bare Necessities | Facing Couples |
S
| Saint Martin's | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | | Facing Couples |
| Sedany | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 Playford Ball | A Playford Ball Bare Necessities | Custom |
| Staines Morris | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | Longways as many as will |
| Stanes Morris | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | Longways as many as will |
T
| Ten Pound Lass | | Lovelace Manuscript ~1649 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | 4 Couple Longways |
| The Twenty-Ninth of May ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1686 Cecil Sharp 1911 | Colin Hume | Duple Minor |
W
| Watton Town's End | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1911 | | Duple Minor |
| Number of dances | Number of interpretations | Number with music |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 32 | 17 |
After being disappointed by the country dances which he could find still extant in England Sharp turned his attention to the various editions of The Dancing Master — and only them, he did not publish interpretations of any later works.
Sharp clearly felt that Country Dancing fell into a decline after about 1670:
A critical examination of these successive editions (of Playford) shows that the dance degenerated very rapidly during the period covered by them, and the large number of dance-manuals subsequently issued by Walsh, Thompson, Waylett, and others furthermore proves that this decline continued during the two following centuries...—Cecil Sharp, The Country Dance Book part 5, 1918, p. 9
I'm not sure what his metrics were for this decline, but he was convinced of it. Perhaps he just didn't like duple or triple minor dances?
Dealing with Playford's text presents challenges which do not arise when you record a living tradition. Playford is sometimes consise to the point of obscurity, he did not seem to employ a proof reader and there are mistakes in his text (in that the figures he describe don't work together, or don't fit the music, etc.), and finally he used words whose meanings have now been lost.
Sharp had to do his best to figure out what was meant from these descriptions. And he did an amazingly good job of it too. Not always perfect. Now with 100 years of hindsight we know things he didn't, but if he hadn't started we won't have that hindsight.
Playford frequently says "Sides all". What does that mean? The concept of siding had died out in the Country Dance tradition around 1700 (the last Playford dance that used it was in 1670) and no one in England in 1900 knew. Sharp came up with an interpretation, and later in his life a different interpretation. We don't know if either is correct.
Or take the word "salute" Sharp interprets that as "honour" — which certainly fits the modern meaning of the word (a respectful greeting). But the Lovelace Manuscript makes it clear that "salute" meant "kiss" on the dance floor.
Look at Row well ye mariners, Playford describes the dance as:
The dance consists of two 16 bar parts. The first is well defined, but for the second we have only that people should "side" (whatever that is) with their neighbors and then (somehow) progress. Now siding is a move which takes 4 bars and leaves one where one started. It does not progress and it leaves 12 bars of music unaccounted for.
Lead up a D. forwards and back · That again : First man two slips cross the Room one way, the woman the other · Back again to your places : Fall back both · Meet again : Clap both your own hands, then clap each other's right-hands against one another's; clap both your own hands again, then clap left-hands, then clap both hands again, then clap your breasts, then meet both your hands against one-another · The same again, only clap left-hands first :
First man sides with the next wo. and his wo. with the next man, doing the like till you come to your own places, the rest following and doing the same.
Sharp faced all these challenges and presented us with well over 100 danceable reinterpretations of Playford.
The various parts of the Country Dance Book are:
- The Country Dance Book (Part 1), 1909 — Country dances actually danced in England at the time.
- The Country Dance Book (Part 2), 1911
- The Country Dance Book (Part 3), 1912
- The Country Dance Book (Part 4), 1916
- The Country Dance Book (Part 5), 1918 — This is devoted to "The Running Set", an early form of Square Dance, and I have no animations of it.
- The Country Dance Book (Part 6), 1922
This website is copyright © 2021,2022,2023,2024 by George W. Williams V
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.