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Tunes Jane Austen danced to
Jun. 30th, 2007 08:54 pmTime flies; four weeks since we spent Saturday evening at the Cellar Upstairs with the Bears. I could let it go, but then would I ever remember that I'd heard someone sing a song by the Reverend Baybie Hoover (I heard - as I'm sure I was meant to - "Baby", but I've googled her since)? Or an arrangement of Bob Dylan's If you've gotta go, go now in the manner of Come Outside by Mike Sarne and Wendy Richards (a good joke, but not necessarily one that sustained the full length of the song)? Or a spirited song in praise of woad (to the tune of Men of Harlech)?
Guest of the evening was Tim Laycock, fine singer, concertina player and generally entertainer, but what I particularly remember is the story behind one group of tunes that he played. They came from a manuscript book written by Richard Pyle of Nether Wallop in Hampshire, dated 1822. Richard Pyle was a farmer, but evidently also a musician - or at least, someone who might be called on to play at a local dance (so if this music was a touch rustic for Miss Austen's more sophisticated heroines, perhaps Emma Woodhouse might have heard it at the wedding of her protégé Harriet Smith), though we don't know what instrument he played. The book is now in Winchester Records Library, though the story Tim Laycock told was that it had been spotted at a historic house, where it had been placed on the piano as a piece of period detail, and one of the visitors to the house (a music teacher, maybe) had recognised it - or rather, had realised the significance of the fact that they didn't recognise it.
As if this weren't good enough, the group of tunes Tim Laycock played for us was: Henri Quatre, The Clermont, Tom and Jerry - "Corinthian Tom" and "Jerry Hawthorne" being two characters from Pierce Egan's Life in London, and the original Tom and Jerry. Life is so educational.
If you want to know how it sounds, a CD is available.
Guest of the evening was Tim Laycock, fine singer, concertina player and generally entertainer, but what I particularly remember is the story behind one group of tunes that he played. They came from a manuscript book written by Richard Pyle of Nether Wallop in Hampshire, dated 1822. Richard Pyle was a farmer, but evidently also a musician - or at least, someone who might be called on to play at a local dance (so if this music was a touch rustic for Miss Austen's more sophisticated heroines, perhaps Emma Woodhouse might have heard it at the wedding of her protégé Harriet Smith), though we don't know what instrument he played. The book is now in Winchester Records Library, though the story Tim Laycock told was that it had been spotted at a historic house, where it had been placed on the piano as a piece of period detail, and one of the visitors to the house (a music teacher, maybe) had recognised it - or rather, had realised the significance of the fact that they didn't recognise it.
As if this weren't good enough, the group of tunes Tim Laycock played for us was: Henri Quatre, The Clermont, Tom and Jerry - "Corinthian Tom" and "Jerry Hawthorne" being two characters from Pierce Egan's Life in London, and the original Tom and Jerry. Life is so educational.
If you want to know how it sounds, a CD is available.
