Greetings,
I expect to be corrected, but I was told that the story was that
General M deliberately marched his men down slowly so that while he
hadn't overtly changed sides yet, they would arrive, O dear what a pity
chaps, too late to actually be there in time to prevent the Royalist
revival he really wanted, then later became much more open about it.
Hence the lovely stopped step of that Morris dance.
From Claude M Simpson, The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music, 309
(footnote to 'The Highlanders' March'):
'A tune known variously as Monk's March, The Lord Monck's March and
General Monk's March is found in The Dancing Master, 3d ed.
supplements; Musicks Hand-maid, 1678; Musicks Recreation on the Viol,
Lyra-way, 1682; volume two of The Dancing Master, 3d ed., 1718, and of
Walsh's Compleat Country Dancing-Master, 1719. It does not fit the
Euing ballad [Number 160, 'A Loyal Subjects Admonition, or a true Song
of Brittains Civil Wars', which cites as an alternative tune 'General
Moncks right march that was sounded before him from Scotland to
London'] nor is it adapted to other ballads citing such tune titles as
Monk's March, My Lord Monks March to London, General Monks March,
General Monk hath advanc'd himself since he came from the Tower,
Monk hath confounded, General Monk sail'd through the Gun-Fleet,
General Monk was a nobleman. These tune titles, associated with
ballads written in a variety of rhythmic and stanzaic patterns, have
nothing in common save their reference to the first Duke of Albemarle.'
Not sure if this helps, but there it is.
By the way, where does My Faith it is an Oaken Staff fit into the
history of all this? Mere coincidence or hymn writer working off a trad
tune again? In Googling it I'm told that The Staff of Faith tune is a
traditional Swiss melody.
Richard.
On 11/10/2010 18:02, Ian Lawther wrote:
Monck's March is an old tune now associated with morris dancing.
General Monck was a parliamentarian in the civil war largely
involved in actions in Scotland. After the death of Oliver Cromwell
and his replacement by Thomas Cromwell the Commonwealth started to
collapse. Monck changed allegiances and and marched his regiment
south from Coldstream in 1660 to restore the monarchy. His
regiment later became the Coldstream Guards. How soon after these
events the tune commemorating his march was written I don't know.
Another tune called Lord Monck's March was in the 1657 edition of
Playford and predated the famous march south so was probably simply
named for him.
I think the connections between the morris tune Monck's March and
Proudlock's Hornpipe are pretty clear. Some years ago I played an
adaptation of Proudlock's on the half-longs in the Society
competitions and have to say that when I made the arrangement I
referred back to the morris tune (published in the key of A in the
Morris Ring Handbook) as a starting point.
Ian
[1]rob@milecastle27.co.uk wrote:
Morning - there are some Proudlocks in my village doing some family
research and they've been aware of the tune for some time. I said
I'd see what I could find ...
Does anyone have any history, apocryphillia or references for the
tune? Here's what I have so far...
- The earliest printed reference I know of is the First NPS
tunebook.
- TOPIC have it played by Billy Ballentine on piccolo (1954 I
think)
- Various sources cross-reference it to the much older Monk's
March. I can see the similarity but it's distinct. I'm also unaware
of any reference to the Monk's March in older NSP related
manuscripts
- Often (mis)attributed to James Hill - Proudlock's Fancy is a
different tune
- Peter Kennedy recorded Jack Armstrong playing it in the 50s or
60s where it was listed as Lewis Proudlock's Hornpipe. There's one
compilation CD (Bagpipes of Britain Ireland CD-SDL416) where the
unattributed sleeve notes say:
'Lewie was a famous local fiddler and fisherman who composed many
tunes. He had no fixed job and moved around the county. His
grand-daughter used to play with Jack.'
If 'Lewie' wrote it then that would date it somewhere in the 70
years preceding the recording... I've never come across any of the
many tunes he composed. The only Lewis Proudlock I could find in
this period was born in Swinden (sic). He's listed in the 1851
census as being 12 yrs old.
- There was another Lewis Proudlock who was a Coquetdale Poet but
he was a bit earlier (d.1816)
cheers
Rob
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References
1. mailto:rob@milecastle27.co.uk
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