Annotation:Wilke's Fancy
X:1 T:Wilke's Fancy M:C| L:1/8 B:Thompson’s Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3 (London, 1773) Z:Transcribed and edited by Flynn Titford-Mock, 2007 Z:abc’s:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D d2 fd e2 ge|f2 af ecBA|d2 fd e2 ge|faAc d2D2:| |:D2 FD AFdB|AFED CD[CA][A,c]|D2 FD AFdB|AGFE D2D2:||
WILKE’S FANCY. English, Country Dance Tune (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody was originally published in Charles and Samuel Thompson’s Compleat Collection, vol. 3, (London, 1773). It was also included in the 1770 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician William Vickers (as “Wilk’s Fancy”), and the 1788 copybook of fiddlers John and William Pitt Turner (Norwich, Conn.). The latter had numerous tunes from the Thompson’s 1773 collection in their manuscript. It was also entered into the 1781 copybook of Nathaniel Brown, a Fife Major with the Fourth Continental Regiment, while stationed at Verplank’s Point (on the Hudson River in Westchester County) and Durham, Conn. Country dance directions to Wilkes Fancy can be found in several dance publications on both sides of the Atlantic.
The tune may be associated with radical politician John Wilkes (1725-1797), for whom see note for "annotation:Wilkes Release."
