Annotation:Greenwich Hill
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GREENWICH HILL. Scottish, Country Dance Tune (2/4 time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC. Greenwich Hill, in Greenwich Park, London, is famous for its panoramic views of the capital. The Royal Observatory was located on the top of the hill, founded in 1675 to compute exact longitudes using astronomy for navigational purposes. At precisely one o'clock PM a red ball would drop from the main tower as a signal so that ships anchored in the Thames could synchronize their timekeeping.
The famous Dunkeld, Perthshire fiddler-composer Niel Gow included it in his 2nd Collection (1788) in a section headed: "The Following are a few of the most Fashionalbe Dance's Danced at Edinburgh in 1787 and -88." Greenwich Hill" appears in the music manuscript copybook of American keyboard player Rebecca Hiester, c. 1793. Instructions for the country dance Greenwich Hill were printed in P.H. Munson's Figures of the Newest and Most Fashionable Country Dances (Hudson, N.Y., 1808).
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Gow (Second Collection of Niel Gow's Reels), 1788; p. 34 (3rd ed.).
Recorded sources: