Annotation:Hunter in His Career (The)

Back to 

 HUNTER IN HIS CAREER, THE. AKA and see "Basse's Career," "Mr. Basse His Career," "Falconer's Hunting (The)," "Hunting the Hare (1)." English, Country Dance Tune (4/4 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The air appears in the Gordon Lute Book (Straloch MS) of 1627. As with many popular airs, several songs to it were written in the 17th century. The tune is alluded to in Walton's Angler, according to Chappell (1859), where Piscator says: I'll promise you I'll sing a song that was lately made at  my request by Mr. William Basse, one that made the  choice songs of 'The Hunter in his Career', and 'Tom  of Bedlam', and many others of note. The tune is attributed here to Oxford poet William Basse (c.1583-1653/4), best known for his eulogy of Shakespeare and his occasional verse. A copy can be found in the Pepys collection at Cambridge, as "Maister Basse, his careere, or the new hunting. To a new Court tune," and it appears in Wit and Drollery (1682, p. 64).  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), vol. 1, 1859; p. 198. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 11.  Recorded sources:

Back to