Annotation:Farinell's Ground

Back to 

 FARINELL'S GROUND. AKA and see "Joy to Great Ceasar," "King's Health (1) (The)," "Loyal Health (The)." English, Country Dance Tune (3/4 time). D Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The air was used for the songs "The King's Health" (which appears in Pills to Purge Melancholy, vol. II, 1719, p. 152) or "Joy to great Caesar" (the first line of "The King's Health"). A 'ground' is a theme that is then meant to be played with numerous variation sets. It was composed by Michel Farinelli (1649-1726), as "Divisions Upon a Ground", first published in 1684, when Farinel was around age 36. The melody is based on an earlier one called "La Folia", for which variation sets were composed by Italian Baroque composers Vivaldi and Corelli. The air was included in Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728)  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 16.  Recorded sources:

Back to