Annotation:Spinning Wheel (5) (The)
X:1 T:Spinning Wheel [5], The M:6/8 L:1/8 B:Aird - Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. II (1782) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Emin G/F/ | E2e edc | BAG FED | E2e (e/f/gf) | e2E E2F | E2e edc | BAG FED | E2e egf | e2E E2 :| |: F | GAG (Bcd/G/) | FEF DEF | GFE D2f | efg B2f | gfe dcB | ABG FED | E2e (efg/)f/ | e2E E2 :|]
SPINNING WHEEL [5], THE. AKA and see "Still I turn'd my Wheel about," "You Stole My Heart Away." English, Air and Jig (6/8 time). E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "The Spinning Wheel" is the indicated tune for a songs in a few ballad operas of the early 18th century. I can be found as the vehicle for the song beginning "How happy is my lady's life"... in Westmeath-born wikipedia:Charles_Coffey's ballad opera The Merry Cobbler, or the Second Part of the Devil to Pay, published in London in 1735 by John Watts[1]. As Air XIV "Still I turn'd my Wheel about" it was heard in Concanen, Roome & Young's The Jovial Crew (1731) and as Air XVII "As I sat at my Spinning Wheel" it was performed in George Lillo's (1693-1739) Silvia; or, The Country Burial. These works were pastiche operas, meaning the music was largely taken and arranged from existing melodies, often very familiar to audiences.
The tune was also entered into the large c. 1790-1820 music manuscript collection of British army fifer biography:John Buttery (p. 491), who, after his discharge from the army eventually emigrated to Ontario, Canada, bringing his manuscript with him. A very close version of the tune was printed by Francis O'Neill in Music of Ireland (1903, No. 527) as the air "You Stole My Heart Away."
See note for "annotation:Spinning Wheel (6) (The)" for more information.
- ↑ "Merry Cobbler" was a follow-up to his 5th ballad opera, The Devil to Pay; or, Wives Metamorphos'd (1731), which was the most successful ballad opera of the century after John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.