Annotation:Vienna

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VIENNA. English, Country Dance Tune (2/2 time). G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The title probably honors the Battle of Vienna, fought in September, 1683. The battle broke the two month long siege of the city by the Turkish forces of Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, and was the high-water mark of the Ottoman invasion of Europe. In the next 16 years the Habsburgs re-established control over Hungary and Transylvania. “Vienna” first appears in John Playford’s Dancing Master [1], 7th edition (London, 1686), and was retained through the 18th edition (London, 1728) of the long-running series, at that time published by John Young. It was also published in Walsh’s Compleat Country Dancing Master (London, 1718), kept in the editions of that volume issued in 1731 and 1754. Paris musician Andre Lorin though enough of the melody and dance to enter it into his copybook in 1685-1687, which he titled “Livre de Contradance Presente au Roy.”

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Barlow (The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford’s Dancing Master), 1985; No. 259, p. 66. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes, vol. 2), 2005; p. 137. Walsh (Complete Country Dancing-Master, Volume the Fourth), London, 1740; No. 82.

Recorded sources:

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