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REVIEWS
The four manuscript books presented here are, along with William Vickers' Great Northern Tunebook, some of the most important collections of English tunes of the period. Dating from the 1780s through to the 1840s, they cover the whole range of dances popular during the period. This handsome production is more of a performing edition than just a scholarly tome, so the tunes have been arranged by type - Marches, Cotillions, 3/2 Hornpipes etc, in a most practical manner. The best material gets the briefest reviews and, in short, no self-respecting performer of English dance tunes can afford to be without this volume........ Paul Burgess
Now
a comprehensive
selection has been published by Andy in book form, sandwiched between
chapters
of excellent contextual information including family and local history,
C18th
dance history, and tune source information referenced to other
manuscripts,
early published dance collections and information available on the web.
There
is also a history of the very silly Greensleeves dance collected from
the
Winders by Sharp and a very good overview of dances and dance rhythms
which all
budding tune detectives ought to read.
Any
minor criticisms can be
put aside because this is a book that should be in the possession of
any
serious tunesmith or session player.
...Johnny Adams
Mudcat
cafe
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=150566
If a
better tune book is published this year I shall be (a) very surprised
and (b)
delighted to have two such excellent tune books appear in the same
year!
Top
marks and much success to Andy Hornby.
(see here for more information about the Winders)
Now available...
The complete contents of four related manuscript books..
280 pages, over 600 tunes.
Background information on the tune-books, the music, dancing masters and Georgian entertainment. Extensive notes on the history of the tunes.
Price UK and USA.. £20 + £3 P&P
Price elsewhere... £20 + £6 P&P
For more details or to place orders, contact (include your address and a phone contact):
andy.hornby@gmail.com
or buy via paypal..
Preview.. Click the thumb-nails for larger images:
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Folk
Roots review
by Vic Smith, November
3013
It
would be
difficult to describe this publication without resorting to
superlatives. Put
simply, it is one of the best, most important and largest collections
of
English dance tunes from manuscripts to be published in recent times.
Hornby's
research
shows us that a high percentage of these dance tunes were also song
melodies,
but the mix of sources concurs with findings of the VMP studies of a
wider
range of manuscripts – militia marches, the jigs, reels and hornpipes
for
village dances but also the more refined dance tunes associated with Assembly rooms and
country houses. There
are even rigadoons which you would hardly expect in the repertoire of
village
musicians. The varied repertoire tells us much about where the
musicians
played: though they are not included here, the manuscripts included
church
music.
How important is this book to those who play English traditional dance tunes or to those who have a serious interest in English traditional music? The word "essential" comes to mind.
Mustrad website http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/r_index.htm
top marks: a great collection of tunes and an
extraordinarily
informative amount of well researched and well
written background
material. It
is always the explanatory notes on the music that make or break a
collection of
folk songs or tunes; this kind of music carries the story of the
culture with
it. It was Baring-Gould’s skill in this direction that first attracted
me to the study and
practice of English
music, and Andy
Hornby nobly follows in this fine
tradition of interesting erudition. I have a lot of
English tunebooks on
my shelves, and this is now the stand-out example.
Anybody interested in the music of the
British Isles needs a copy.
Greg
Stephens
Edward Winder's signature from his tune-book.
