Monck's March

[michael sam wild]

In The Times (UK) on January 30th is an interesting piece on The Coldstream Guards who had just marched the 425 miles from Coldstream on the border. The regiment descended from Lieutenant-General 'Honest George' Monck's famous 17th century legion and they have followed the route he took in 1660, 350 years ago. After the death of Oliver Cromwell, Monck and 6,000 men of the new Model Army ( parliamentarians) crossed the Tweed at Coldstream and began the journey that would lead to London and the Restoration of Charles II to the throne.

Monck left on January 1st.

 

He started the Civil War as a Royalist and was always considered a covert Royalist and an unwilling combatant, hence the name of the slow tune used for the Sherborne morris dance a heel and toe dance.

 

good information on this link

 

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/MON.htm#MONK'S_MARCH

 

the Coldstream Guards were senior to Charles's Grenadier Guards but the Grenadiers had given longer service to the King . The Coldstream however maintain as their motto Nulli Secundus Second to None.

Edited February 3, 2010 by michael sam wild

[TomB-R]

He seems to have been an honourable fellow and good at using the threat of his forces without actually fighting and losing lives. As I understand it the steadiness of his march south was a deliberate tactic to allow time for the situation in London to resolve and avoid a third civil war, yet he had obeyed orders!

 

I really like this version of the tune by Alan Day with a quicker than usual pulse to the accompaniment.

 

[spindizzy]

He seems to have been an honourable fellow and good at using the threat of his forces without actually fighting and losing lives. As I understand it the steadiness of his march south was a deliberate tactic to allow time for the situation in London to resolve and avoid a third civil war, yet he had obeyed orders!

 

I really like this version of the tune by Alan Day with a quicker than usual pulse to the accompaniment.

 

 

and for comparison, Proudlock's Hornpipe - pretty much the same tune in an HP rhythym.

I couldn't find a concertina recording, but you could try

on Nothumbrian Pipes.

 

Chris

[michael sam wild]

I've just been re reading an article in Folk Music Journal 1999 ( Vol 7 no.5) which I had flicked through when a lot busier. It is on the cultural politics of Playford's English Dancing Master of 1650 , by Keith Whitlock of the Open University.

 

As a publisher, Playford seems to have kept his head down ( like the Vicar of Bray who swapped sides ) but was a Royalist. Country dances and tunes , whether from the folk or from the theatre by way of masques such as those of Ben Jonson, were associated with the Stuarts and a return to old values of feudalism and agrarian life. The Stuarts supported rural sports (under supervision from the clergy} and James I wrote a Book of Sports in 1618 which Charles I republished in 1633 and Charles II was a supporter. James I was sometimes alluded to as Pan, master of the woodland revels and Charles II with the Green Man in Royal Oak pub signs etc..

 

For those who like a good conspiracy it appears that are lots of nuances, ambiguities and allusions that we would not recognise but that were there for a clued up reader. I wonder what Old Noll's Jig referred to.?

 

 

Playford , in his Foreword, addresses 'The Ingenious Reader' who would know about these coded messages.

 

Tunes were often named after cavaliers and their connections eg Newcastle or Norfolk.

 

Even Ale was praised as a 'catholic' drink of olde England as opposed to Beer from Holland . So WhitsunAles and Morris were OK with the Royals .

 

 

It seems that after a masque or a musical theatre show they would get down and boogie to old country dances til 4 in the morning. Sounds like a ceili to me.

 

I know that Princess Margaret was a patron of the EFDSS and loved a good dance.

 

anyway Monck's slow march may have been humorously credited with a comic dance. Once you know about it it makes sense as a bit of a jokey piece whose significance gets lost with time. I don't actually know when the tune was written, whether before or after the Restoration, and hence in his honour or secretly

 

At a time of such religious and political turmoil and uncertainty populat culture would be tuned in and the antennae would be out. ( much as in Scotland, Wales and Ireland under repression)

Edited February 10, 2010 by michael sam wild

[Sue W]

One of the fascinating aspects of the seventeenth century is the way it was a time of change, and any and every idea was open to questioning.

 

I think there was a much wider range of opinion than we sometimes imagine. Within what we might describe as 'the puritians' there was a wide variety of views about dancing. Some certainly disapproved of dancing, others thought it was fine. I once read a piece written on dancing in the seventeenth century (a 16 point sermon really), the authors conclusion was that he couldn't disapprove of dancing as there was dancing in the bible, but he thought there should be no dancing between the sexes, so women could dance with women and men could dance with men. I assume that meant Morris dancing was OK. I think dancing was a normal activity and the extreme views were just that;the extremes of opinion and not the commonplace.

 

Charles' republishing of 'Book of Sports' was a political move to bolster the Church of England, against the influence of both catholics and puritians. All the activities described were legal if you'd first attended the Parish church.

 

Cromwell so often portrayed as a killjoy, couldn't imagine not drinking beer, loved his music and had dancing at his daughter's wedding.

[michael sam wild]

Thanks Sue that's very helpful.

 

I understand Cromwell was called 'The Brewer' because of his support for beer.

 

Theres some good replies on melodeon net on this topic from a historin of this subject.

 

http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,3434.0.html

 

 

I append a comment from an email from Tony Battilana who has produced a book of Playford tunes from Book 1, 1651. (Thanks Tony )

 

John Playford and his successors published 18 editions of the Dancing Master between 1651 and c.1728. My book covers just the first edition (the only one to be called "The English Dancing Master") so there are many more "Playford" tunes to be found in the rest of the series. (I've started work on a complete version, but it's a very big job.) Westmoreland and Barham Down first appeared in the 7th and 11th editions respectively, but I can't find Monck's March at all. However, there were several other publishers producing similar collections at the time, and Monck's March may be in one of theirs. In particular, John Young (who took over the Dancing Master series from the Playfords in 1706) also published a parallel series which he called the "The Dancing Master Volume 2". I don't have complete information about Volume 2, but the 1st edition of this series (1710) contains "Monks March with the Wanders", which may be related to the tune you have in mind. (There is a Dm transcription of this tune in "The Fallibroome Collection" by Bernard Bentley, which has just been republished by the EFDSS.) I hope this helps.Best wishes,Tony

Edited February 18, 2010 by michael sam wild

[PeteP]

"For those who like a good conspiracy it appears that are lots of nuances, ambiguities and allusions that we would not recognise but that were there for a clued up reader. I wonder what Old Noll's Jig referred to.?"

 

I play a tune by the name of Old Noll's Jig which came from one of the old manuscript books in the Henry Watson Library in Manchester. 'Old Noll' is, apparently, one of Oliver Cromwell's less than respectful nicknames.

 

Pete

[michael sam wild]

Any chance of an ABc or a recording? whose MS book was it?

[John Wild]

Any chance of an ABc or a recording? whose MS book was it?

 

X: 14574

T:Old Noll's Jig

M:6/8

L:1/8

B:The Round Band Book of Playford

K:F

E | "Dm"FED "Bb"D2E | "Dm"FED D2d | \

"Am"^c2d "Dm"A2d | "Gm"^c2d "Dm"A2E | \

"Dm"FED "Gm"D2E | "Dm"FED D2e | \

"Dm"fed "E7"c>=BA | "Am"A3 A2 :| \

c | "F"ABc F2c | "F"ABc F2f | \

"Bb"def B2d | "Gm"Bcd G2g | \

"C"efg "C7"c2e | "F"fga "Bb"B2a | \

"Gm"bag "C7"g3 | "F"f3 f2 || \

a | "Dm"fga "Bb"def | "Gm"efg "A"^cde | \

"Dm"def "Gm"efd | "A"^c3 A2a | \

"Gm"bag "Dm"aAa | "Gm"bag "Dm"aAa | \

"Gm"bag "A7"f>ed | "Dm"d3 d2 ||

 

this is an ABC that was sent to me. i do not know any more about it than you see above.

 

- John Wild

[michael sam wild]

Thanks John, just off to the Tune-0-Tron . It sounds quite slow and in Dm so a bit dark. I wonder about the dance to it. I'll dig a bit more

Edited March 1, 2010 by michael sam wild

[PeteP]

That's the tune I know and in the same key! It's a bit different.