Annotation:Lord St. Vincent's Waltz
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LORD ST. VINCENT'S WALTZ. AKA - "Peep into Brest (A)." English, Waltz. D Major ('A' and 'B' parts) & G Major ('C' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC. The melody was published in Astor's Country Dances (1800), one of a series of books issued by the Astor firm. George Astor was originally from a peasant family in Waldorf, near Heidelberg, Germany, who came to England as a young man and found employment with a maker of musical instruments in London. Finding some success, he induced his younger brother, John Jacob Astor, to come to England to partner with him, and they set up shop in the musical instrument trade. In 1783 John Jacob sailed to America on a trip to visit another brother who had emigrated to that country, and took along a supply of flutes to sell. On the voyage Astor met a fellow passenger in the fur trade who advised him to invest his money in furs, and, arriving in America and disposing of his flutes, Astor took the man's advice. When he returned to London he found that the fur trade did indeed provide a much more handsome return than the music business, and Astor departed again for America to build his empire in furs. By the end of the 18th century John Jacob Astor was a rich man, and on his way to becoming one of the Continent's richest men, scion of the Astor millionaires.
George, meanwhile, remained in London in the music instrument business, where he too found continued, if more modest success. Around the year 1800 he added music publishing to his business and issued yearly collections of twenty-four country dances for many years.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Callaghan (Hardcore English), 2007; p. 85.
Recorded sources:
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