Annotation:Giordani's Minuet
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GIORDANI'S MINUET. English, Minuet (3/4 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The melody appears in English collections dating from the latter 18th century. The minuet was published by Samuel, Ann and Pete Thompson in their Compleat Instuctions for the Clarinet (London, 1785), Preston & Son's A New and Complete Tutor for the Violoncello (1785), Thomas Cahusac's New and Complete Instructions for the Oboe or Hoboy (London, 1790), and similar tutorial volumes. It ceased to be published after 1800, save in dancing master Thomas Wilson's 1816 Companion to the Ball Room.
The melody is named for Neopolitan composer Tommaso Giordani [1] (c. 1730–1806), who may have composed it. After his training in Italy, Giordani moved with his family (musicians for generations) to London in 1752. He spent a few years as a journeyman musician at Covent Garden, but brought out his first opera a few years later, after which his reputation grew as a singer, musician and composer. In 1764 he moved to Dublin where he became one of the leading musical figures of the Irish capital, and lived the rest of his life in that country, save for a relatively brief two-year return to London.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Wilson (Companion to the Ball Room), 1816; pp. 168-169.
Recorded sources:
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