Annotation:New Invention (The)
X:1 T:New Invention, The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Country Dance Tune B:Elias Howe – Musician’s Omnibus Nos. 6 & 7 (Boston, 1880-1882, p. 613) B: http://ks4.imslp.net/files/imglnks/usimg/c/c7/IMSLP601433-PMLP562790-ONeill_Rare_Medium_M40_M8_v6.7_text.pdf Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G d2g f>ed|e2g d>cB|c2B ABG|AF>E D3| a2a g/a/bB|g2g f/g/aB|c2B ABG|1 A F2 G3:|2 A F2 G2|| |:g/a/|bag agf|gfe dcB|e2e e2 (e/4f/4g/)|f2e e3| ddd dcB|BAG FED|a2e fdg|1 ef2 g2:|2e f2 g3||
NEW INVENTION, THE. English, Country Dance Tune and Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB'. The melody with instructions for a country dance was first printed by Henry Playford in his Dancing Master, 11th edition (1701, p. 270). The piece was retained in the long-running Dancing Master series through the 18th and final edition of 1728, published at that time by John Young, heir to the Playford publishing concerns. It also appears in rival London music publisher John Walsh's Compleat Country Dancing Master of 1718.
What the 'new invention' of the title is remains unknown. Candidates include the piano, newly invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori (one was listed in an inventory of musical instruments owned by the Medici family that year), and the seed drill, invented in 1700 by Jethro Tull.
