Annotation:Chain Cotillion
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CHAIN COTILLION. AKA and see "Novéllé Holéndoise (La)." English, Country Dance Tune (4/4 time). As "Novéllé Holéndoise (La)" it can be found in James Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, volume 3 (1788), and in an anonymous English music manuscript. A version with similar melodic material, perhaps a variant of "Chain Cotillion", is called "Louisa (The)" in Thomas Davis's Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1748 and Jonathan Johnson's Choice Collection of 200 Favourite County Dances, vol. 5 (London, 1750). A version is likewise named "Louise (La)" in the manuscript book of S. Dawes (1818), now in the British Library. The music manuscript of the Bosham Band (Sussex) from the mid-19th century has the tune simply as "The Cotillion" [Barry Callaghan, 2007].
"Chain Cotillion" appears in several American music manuscripts of the late 18th century, including John Turner's Liber manuscript compiled in Norwich, Connecticut in 1788, the Wilkes Allen Apollo copybook (1790-1801), the manuscript book of Massachusetts harpsichord player Hannah Dawes (1790), fifer and fluter John (?) Treat's commonplace book (1779, Durham?), Joseph Cabot and John Bartlett's commonplace book entitled "New Instructions for the German Flute" (Cambridge and Salem, Massachusetts, 1784-1789), and the John Greenwood Manuscript (1785, p. 72). Greenwood was a Fife Major in the United States Army, and was perhaps from Massachusetts, however, his music copybook contains mostly dance tunes and rather few martial or marching airs. Nevertheless, in modern times the "Chain Cotillion" has been popular for martial use by various Revolutionary and Civil War fife-and-drum re-enactors.
Printed source: Callaghan (Hardcore English), 2007; p. 31.