Annotation:Punch Alive
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PUNCH ALIVE. English, Country Dance Tune (cut time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The melody and dance directions "Longways for as many as will") were printed in the Third Volume of the Dancing Master [1] (2nd edition) of 1722, which was at that time being printed by John Young, heir to the Playford publishing concerns in London. It was also published by John Walsh & Joseph Hare, rival London music publishers, in their New Country Dancing Master, Third Book (1728, p. 145).
The earthy character of Punch, long a mainstay of street and fair puppet shows, was introduced in England from Italy (where it was called Pollicinella or Punchinello) in the mid-17th century. Pepys noted the arrival of the fat, shrill-voiced, humpbacked creature in his diary in the year 1662. Punch’s nemesis in the plays was his wife, called Joan in the early days, or the Devil, with varying results: sometimes he lost, sometimes he emerged victorious [Simpson & Roud, 2000].
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Kidson (Old English Country Dances), 1890; p. 4.
Recorded sources: