Annotation:In the Fields in Frost and Snow

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 IN THE FIELDS IN FROST AND SNOW. English, Country Dance Tune (2/2 time). D Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody dates to 1713, when it was first published in the Second Volume of The Dancing Master, first edition, issued by John Young in London. It appears in subsequent volumes of the work (1714, 1718, 1728). The melody proved popular and was picked up by the Walshes for the Second Book of the Compleat Country Dancing-Master (London, 1719 and 1754), and Thomas D'Urfey for Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy, vol. 2 (1719). It was employed as the vehicle for a number of songs in ballad operas, including Polly (1729), The Lover's Opera (1729), The Stage-Mutineers, or a Playhouse to Be Let (1733), Sancho at Court, or the Mock Governor (1742), and The Love and Revenge: or, The Vintner Outwitted (1781).  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986.  Recorded sources: Boxwood Records, Chris Norman Ensemble - "In the Fields of Frost and Snow" (2008)

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