Henry Playford and The Dancing Master: country dance tunes

About Henry Playford

Henry Playford was born in 1657, the younger son and only surviving child of John Playford, and entered the family business in the Temple in London. His father's health had been failing for years before his death around 1686, and Henry took over the shop near Temple Church, trading there until 1695, then at Temple Change until 1704 and at Middle Temple Gate in 1706.

His list was built on songs and instrumental pieces for the pleasure gardens and the theatre as much as on church music. He published Harmonia Sacra in 1688 and The Divine Companion in 1701, brought out Thomas d'Urfey's Wit and Mirth, and issued Purcell's Orpheus Britannicus. He also revised The Dancing Master, the manual his father had first printed in 1651; the eighth edition of 1690 is the first marked as published by Henry, and further editions followed in 1695, 1698, 1701 and 1703, with a second part from 1696.

That book is the source of nearly everything here. The tunes were printed as single-line melodies with the dance steps beside them, and most are anonymous; the attribution to Playford reflects the publisher of the collection rather than a composer's autograph. "Childgrove" and "Portsmouth" come from the 1701 edition, "Mr Beveridge's Maggot" from 1695, and "Old Noll's Jig" from a 1702 supplement to the eleventh edition.

Listening and playing notes

Playford tunes are dance music first, so the pulse matters more than the ornament. Most are in two strains of four or eight bars, each repeated, and the second strain usually climbs before it cadences; keep the repeats springy rather than slower. Ornament sparingly, and put the decoration at cadences. Because the printed source is a single melodic line, the accompaniment is an editorial choice, and the chords in these files may not match a facsimile exactly. Play at a tempo the dancers can walk to.

Selected scores

1. My Lord Byron's Maggot

   A duple-minor dance in D major from the 1701 edition; the catalogue holds a second copy under another id.

2. The French Ambassador

   A triple-minor dance in B flat from 1701, one of the longer routines in the book.

3. Portsmouth

   A G major duple-minor dance from 1701, built on two repeated eight-bar strains.

4. Indian Queen

   A 1701 dance whose name echoes Purcell's semi-opera The Indian Queen of 1695; the tune itself is printed without an author.

5. Black-Heath

   A G minor triple-minor dance from 1701, named for the heath south-east of London.

6. Whimbleton House

   A 1701 triple-minor dance in G minor; modern indexes spell the title "Wimbleton House" after the house in Wimbledon.

7. Up With Aily

   One of the newer dances added in the 1703 twelfth edition, in D major.

8. Childgrove

   A D minor duple-minor dance from 1701 that stayed in the modern English country dance repertoire.

9. Old Noll's Jig

   From the 1702 supplement to the eleventh edition; "Old Noll" was the nickname of Oliver Cromwell.

10. Mr Beveridge's Maggot

    A G minor dance first printed in the 1695 ninth edition, and still one of the best-known Playford tunes.