Annotation:St. Brides
X:1 T:St. Brides M:C| L:1/8 S:John Young – second volume of the Dancing Master (London, 1713) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:A E2|A2 ed c2A2|c2e2e2 fg|a2g2f2e2|dcBc dcBc| A2 ed c2A2|c2e2e2fg|a2g2f3e|e6:| |:e2|fefg agfe|fedc B2 cd|e2 fe dcBA|G6 E2| A2 cA F2 dB|G2 ec A2 ag|fedc B3A|A6:|
ST. BRIDES. English, Country Dance Tune (2/2 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. “St. Brides” appears in the Second Volume of the Dancing Master, editions one through four, published in London by John Young from 1713 to 1728 (p. 17). Young was the heir to the long-running Dancing Master series first published in 1651 by John Playford. The tune also appears in Walsh’s Second Book of the Compleat Country Dancing Master (London, 1719, with editions in 1735 and 1749).
St. Bride’s Church was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren in the 1680’s in London’s Fleet Street, on the site of five previous churches (the last one having been destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666). The steeple (complete in 1700), at 226 feet was the largest in London, and perhaps the inspiration for the modern wedding cake. The area was once the heart of England’s printing industry, and the church was presumably well-known by Young and Walsh.
