Constancy

CONSTANCY. American, Country Dance Tune (2/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Kate Van Winkler Keller says the tune was unknown in British sources (unusual for the time), but appears in American country dance sources into the 19th century. A note in Sweet (1964) indicates the melody is from the Beck Manuscript, an 18th century New England flute MS of one Henry Beck (1786). It was first printed commercially in The Village Fifer (Exeter, N.H.) in 1808.

Sources for notated versions: the music manuscript of Captain George Bush (1753?-1797), a fiddler and officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution [Keller]; Beck MS [Sweet].

Printed sources: Keller (Fiddle Tunes from the American Revolution), 1992; p. 22. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 65.

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X:1
T:Constancy
M:2/4
L:1/8
K:G
DG FG | A/B/c/A/ BG | dB/d/ cA/c/ | BG/B/ A2 | DG FG | A/B/c/A/ BG | 
dc/B/ AG | FE D2 :: Bc d2 | B/c/d/B/ cB | AB c2 | A/B/c/A/ BG | 
dB/d/ cA/c/ | BG/B/ A2 | de/f/ g/e/d/c/ | BA G2 :||

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