Annotation:Prince George's Rigadoon
X: 1 T:Prince George's Rigadoon. JJo6.80 M:6/8 L:1/8 B:J.Johnson Choice Collection Vol 6, 1751 Z:vmp.Mike Hicken 2015 www.village-music-project.org.uk Q:3/8=100 K:Bb f|b2d g2c|f2A B2(c//d//e/)|d>cB A2B|c2F F2 (f//g//a/)| bfd gec|fdB A2 (g//a//b/)|a>gf Tg3|f3 f2 | |: f|g2E- EGB|ega bag|f2D- DFB|dfa bfe|dcB Tc3|B3 B2 :|
PRINCE GEORGE'S RIGADOON. English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody was first published in John Johnson’s Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 6 (London, 1751). It was included in the 1788 music manuscript copybook of fiddlers John Turner and William Pitt Turner of Norwich, Connecticut. The title refers to Prince George (1738-1820), who became King George III in 1760, the first Hanoverian monarch for whom English was his first language. A 'rigadoon' (rigaudon) was sprightly folk dance that originated in France and became popular with both the French and English courts. The name supposedly derives from a dancing master from Marseille named Rigaud, who is thought to have introduced the dance to Parisian society in 1630.
