Annotation:Old Nectar

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OLD NECTAR. English, Country Dance Tune and Jig (6/8 time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody also appears in London publisher John Walsh's Third Book of the Compleat Country Dancing-Master, editions of 1735 and 1749. The title "Old Nectar" quite possibly referred to an alcoholic beverage, as is suggested in Alexander Radcliffe's poem "Bacchinalia Coelestia, or A Poem in Praise of Punch" (1680):

A Poem in Praise of Punch
Compos'd by the Gods and Goddesses in Cabal.
The Gods and the Goddesses lately did feast,
Where Ambrosia with exquisite sawces was drest.
The Edibles did with the Qualities suit,
But what they did drink, did occasion dispute.
'Twas time that Old Nectar should grow out of fashion,
A liquor they drank long before the Creation.
When the Sky-coloured Cloth was drawn from the Board,
For the Chrystalline Bowl Great Jove gave the word.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Johnson (Wright's Compleat Collection of Celebrated Country Dances), London, 1740; p. 97.

Recorded sources:

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