Annotation:Dove's Figary
X:1 T:Dove's Figary M:C| L:1/8 K:Amin A2e2d2c2 | B3A ^G2E2 | A2B2c2c2 | d2 cd e4 :| |: e2 ef g2 fe | d2 de f2 ed | e2e2d2 dc | de f2 e4 | e2 ef g2 fe | d2 de f2 ed | c2A2A2d2 | B3c A4 :||
DOVE'S FIGARY. AKA - "Chestnut," "Hyd y Frwynen." English, Country Dance Tune (2/2 time). A Minor (Playford): D Minor (Wright). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody appears as "Chestnut" (with "Dove's Figary" as an alternate title) in John Playford's English Dancing Master (1651, p. 85) as a vehicle for a longways dance for six. It was also published in London by J. Johnson in Wright's Compleat Collection of Celebrated Country Dances, c. 1740-2. 'Figary' is a word derived from the word 'vagery', and means a frolic or whim; a synonym perhaps for the word 'maggot' as used to refer to dance tunes. 'Dove' may refer to the slippery Parliamentary politician John Dove [1] in the reign of Charles I and afterwards, sometimes (probably erroneously) known as a regicide as he sat as a commissioner in the trial of that monarch. Thus the title may have once been to a lost ballad. Relatively little is known of Dove, except that 'he met a peaceful end, after a stormy career'.
The melody was printed under the Welsh name "Hyd y Frwynen" in British Harmony (1781).
