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Thomas Carlyon paid E. and M. Trethewy for dancing. The material in John Old’s music book Dance tunes suggests that he played the harp and violin. Of the 96 tunes in the book, some are Scottish, by the Gows and William Marshall. Others are Scottish in style, but may not be so in origin, as from Cornwall they are named after figures in London society. But as many are dance tunes from south of the Mike O’Connor introduces some of the probable that Ann and her friends were taught Tweed. Obviously, the latest music from across traditional tune collections to be found in by an itinerant singing master called Peter the country was accessible to Old. Cornwall. Quiller. William Allen The Courtney Library of the ecent years have witnessed many new Frances Prideaux The music book of Royal Institution of Cornwall contains a book insights into social music in Cornwall. We Frances Prideaux is in the private library of that was probably compiled by William Allen Rcan identify minstrelsy, morris, carols, Prideaux Place, Padstow. Frances played piano (1791-c1859) of St Ives, a clerk who and some social music and dance in medieval and probably violin, and her book, compiled eventually became a land and mine surveyor. times. But also, several recently discovered about 1788 to 1796, has ninety tunes, some His book has 45 songs and 42 dance tunes music notebooks tell of the social music of with dance instructions. Like the Morval dance from about 1815 to 1858. None seems of local recent centuries. This article focuses on these book, it has material well known in social origin, apart from the lyric of the ‘Hal an Tow’ books. centres such as Bath, but also has a few tunes and the tune of the Helston Furry Dance. The Notwithstanding its distinctive cultural and local in flavour or origin. repertoire tells of an enthusiasm for popular linguistic identity, little has been written about songs and dance tunes, especially waltzes, in Cornwall’s social and early music. Also, until John Old The 1807/8 music book of John the second quarter of the nineteenth century. the very recent publication of Scoot Dances, Old, a dancing master from Par, was Troyls, Furrys and Tea Treats: The Cornish remaindered at a jumble sale in about 1970 Gregory Tom The slender 1825 Dance Tradition by the Daveys, recent and, for sixpence, it was saved from the manuscript of Gregory Tom of St. Ervan, near collection has been largely unknown. Even with bonfire. John probably lived at Par to be near Padstow, is also now in the Courtney Library. Lady Mary Trefusis as first president of the the homes of the wealthy Carlyon, Rashleigh Entitled Psalms and hymns for use by church English Folk Dance Society, there was not and Treffry families. According to accounts bands 1825-1830, it contains ‘Zennor’, a enough known about music in Cornwall to give books of the Carlyon family, now held in the modal psalm tune of conspicuous beauty. a coherent chronological or geographical Cornwall Record Office, money was paid to ‘Jn Sabine Baring Gould wrote that the culture picture, and that situation prompted my Louis’ in 1766 for teaching a young family surrounding non-conformism suppressed research. member music and dance, and in 1797, much vernacular music. Bodmin Riding and the Six sets of manuscripts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries illustrate the range of music from Cornwall. John Giddy In the Cornwall Record Office is a tiny, 64-page, music notebook, which belonged to John Giddy (c1707-1759), a farmer from Kea, near Truro. His letters tell that he played the violin for recreation and dancing, and his notebook was probably compiled between about 1730 and 1750. It contains some songs from ballad operas and the odd piece attributed to Handel, but much of the material is unattributed and unknown dance music, such as minuets, rigadoons and hornpipes. Most use conventional major and minor scales, but there are some lovely modal tunes. The Morval Manuscripts and Ann Little The private archive of the Carew Pole family holds four manuscript music books, and a companion volume is in the Cornwall Record Office. They were originally owned by the Buller family of Morval House near Looe. One book has 42 dance directions, tunes and songs from about 1740 to 1770. Many of the tunes are little-known and some are local, and the collection may have been associated with the wedding of John Buller to Anne Lemon in 1770. The other books have instructional material, polyphonic psalms and anthems, most unknown. The most complete bears the name of Ann Little: dated 1767, it gives an insight into parish harmony singing. It is Untitled, known as ‘Come to Good’. [page 5] summer 2009 page 12 Cornwall and still in use, shares its tune with the Breton chanson de danse ‘Me An’vez Ur Goulmig’, sung for the dance ‘An Dro’. According to P. Montjarret in his book Toniou Breiz-Izel (Rennes, 1984), the tune has a modal nature suggestive of the sixteenth century. Bretons then comprised a sizeable minority of the Cornish population, and the language was very similar. The manuscripts show evolution in the use of grace notes, trills and mordents. In turn this tells us about the tempi - play the music too fast and you can’t fit them in! Played more slowly the music has a characteristic grace and poise. Mike O’Connor OBE is a folk musician and storyteller, who has been researching the music of Cornwall for over a decade. He has been central to the production of three folk operas - The Cry of Tin, Unsung Heroes and Untitled, known as ‘Echoes of Old Kea’ [page 7] Cornish Lads. Mike was made a bard of the Hal an Tow ceased in the nineteenth century, and Ireland. The Cornish repertoire is so Cornish Gorsedd in 2002 and in 2009 was though their music survived. But Padstow’s diverse in form, origin and influence, as to awarded the Henwood Medal of the Royal May Day celebration and Helston’s Flora Day make unlikely the existence of any single Institution of Cornwall. were largely unaffected. Church tea-treats on identifying characteristic. But it can be argued founders’ days or patronal festivals often that the Cornish repertoire together comprises Mike is grateful to all the custodians of the involved processions or processional dances, a unique cultural profile. There are Cornish music books referred to in this feature, tunes inevitably led by a band. Consequently many ‘fingerprints’ in many areas of the Duchy’s especially the Cornwall Record Office for polkas and marches have been preserved. social music. The pervasive rhythm of the furry permission to reproduce images from the John Community processional dances such as furry dances, the easy grace of the dance tunes Giddy tune book. and serpent dances were very popular: one (when played at traditional tempi) and beautiful such is the recently collected ‘Rescorla Snail modal song and psalm tunes, often with Creep’. Church and west gallery bands also asymmetrical phrase lengths, may all be fostered local musicians. The newly discovered considered Cornish. manuscripts confirm that the picture of Some Cornish tunes have a major/minor nineteenth-century vernacular music is not ambivalence, sounding Breton or perhaps completely bleak. Welsh. ‘A New Christmas Carol’, described by Music in Cornwall has no features William Sandys in his 1833 Christmas Carols analogous to the ‘snaps’ and ‘rolls’ of Scotland Ancient and Modern as from the west of Further Information The tunes transcripts are all from Mike O’Connor, Echoes of Old Kea (Lyngham House, 2001), and originally from the John Giddy tune book, from Kea near Truro. Mike O’Connor has published an excellent resource book for Cornish music. Ilow Kernow: Cornish Instrumental Tradition: The Resource in now in its fourth edition (Lyngham House, 2007). Covath (Lyng 222) is a CD of Cornish music, produced in 2003, and featuring Mike O’Connor. Pride of Place (Lyng 231) is a new CD of music from the 1788 music book of Frances Prideaux-Brune of Padstow, featuring Mike O’Connor and harpist Barbara Griggs. ‘Mr Ravencorft’s Hornpipe’ [page 51]. This probably refers to John Ravenscroft of Tower Contact for all publications: Hamlets, 1695-1745. 01841 540042. Reproduced by permission of Cornwall Record Office, DG/95. Reproduced by permission of Cornwall Record Office, summer 2009 page 13 Scoots, Troyls and Tea Treats Cornishman Merv Davey Mur, the cycle of mystery plays performed in Orchesographie than to the Oxfordshire introduces the Duchy’s folk dances. Cornish during the late medieval period. They dances of the early twentieth century. Indeed were used as the finale for various sections it is Arbeau’s mattachins (sword dancers) of the play and introduced by the master of which link us to the ultimate icons of early ceremonies issuing the instructions: music and dance in Cornwall, the sixteenth century bench end carvings at Altarnon Minstrels growgh theny peba Church on Bodmin Moor. These carvings May hallan warbarthe downssya depict a bagpiper, a crowder (the ‘crowd’ is Del ew an vaner han geys an early form of fiddle) and three dancers Photo: Derek Schofield Photo: including the geysor. Minstrels, do ye pipe to us That we may together dance Guize Dances As is the manner and the jest Nineteenth-century Cornwall provided rich Merv and Alison Davey pickings for the folklorist and antiquary, and In the Cornish of the time, geys (pronounced they were in no doubt about the links olk dance is more than just a collection geeze) had the meaning of a jest or mock between the medieval geys dancer and the of steps, movement and music; it is a and geysor had the meaning of jester, so the guize dancing customs they observed which, Fform of human expression and its above could be interpreted as a call for all to they were quick to point out, was pronounced essence lies within its community role and join in with the dancing or for a specific as geeze dancing.

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