Dances in The Country Dance Book (Part 3) (Cecil Sharp, 1912)
An online copy of the original may be found here.
Table of Contents
A
| Adson's Saraband ~ Sharp |  | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | Brett Larsen | 3 Couple Longways |
| Althea | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912 | Colin Hume | Facing Couples Becket |
| Anniseed Water Robin | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 |  | Duple Minor |
| Argeers ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | At Home Bare Necessities | Facing Couples |
| The Asparagus Garden | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Facing Couples Becket |
B
| Bobbing Joe | | Lovelace Manuscript ~1649 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Duple Minor |
| Broom, The Bonny, Bonny Broom ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | 4 Couple Longways |
| Buckingham House 1657 | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | Square |
C
| Catching of Fleas | | John Playford 1670 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Duple Minor |
| Catching of Quails | | John Playford 1670 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Square |
| Chelsea Reach ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | Square |
| Confesse, his Tune ~ Cecil Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | Colin Hume | Custom3 permutation: 121 |
| The Court Lady ~ Cecil Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | Colin Hume | Custom3 permutation: 121 |
F
| Fain I Would ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | Square |
| The Friar and the Nun | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | Colin Hume | Duple Minor |
| The Fryar and the Nun | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | Colin Hume | Duple Minor |
H
| Hide Parke | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | Square |
| Hunsdon House | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | Square |
| Hyde Park | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | Square |
I
| If all the World were Paper ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Assembly | Colin Hume | Square |
| The Irish Lady | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Duple Minor |
| Irish Trot | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Duple Minor |
L
| Labour in Vain | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | A Playford Ball Bare Necessities | 3 Couple Longways |
| Lady in the Dark ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Facing Couples Becket |
| Lady Spellor | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | 4 Couple Longways |
| Lady Spillers | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | 4 Couple Longways |
| Lord of Carnarvon's Jigg ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | 4 Couple Longways permutation: 3412 |
| Lull Me Beyond Thee | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | 4 Couple Longways |
M
| Maiden Lane | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp (mod) 1912 Playford Assembly | Colin Hume | 3 Couple Longways permutation: 231 |
| The Merry Conceit ~ Playford, Sharp | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Facing Couples Becket |
| The Merry, Merry Milkmaids | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | 4 Couple Longways |
N
| The New Conceit | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Facing Couples Becket |
| The New Figary | | John Playford 1670 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Duple Minor |
O
| The Old Mole | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | 3 Couple Longways |
| Open the Door to Three | | John Playford 1652 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Circle as many as will |
P
| Parthenia ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | At Home Bare Necessities | Square |
| The Phoenix | | John Playford 1670 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | 4 Couple Longways |
R
| Row Well, Ye Mariners ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | Strong Roots Bare Necessities | 7 Couple Longways |
S
| Shepherd's Holiday ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | A Playford Ball Bare Necessities | 3 Couple Longways |
| The Sparaguss Garden | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Facing Couples Becket |
| Spring Garden ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1657 Cecil Sharp 1912 Playford Ball | Colin Hume | 4 Couple Longways |
| Sweet Kate | | John Playford 1670 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Duple Minor |
T
| Touch and Take | | John Playford 1652 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Duple Minor |
U
Up Tails All
| |||||||||||||||||||
Up Tayles All
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Upon a Summer's Day ~ Sharp | | John Playford 1651 Cecil Sharp 1912 | Colin Hume | 3 Couple Longways | |||||||||||||||
W
| Winifred's Knot | | John Playford 1652 Cecil Sharp 1912 | | Circle as many as will |
| Number of dances | Number of interpretations | Number with music |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | 36 | 20 |
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.