Chestnut
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Chestnut" is also known as "Dove's Figary".<br> The tune was first published in The English Dancing Master (1651)<br> although it disappears after the 8th edition in 1690. It also was<br> published in Daniel Wright's Complete Collection of Celebrated Country<br> Dances (1740), where it appears as "Dove's Figary". Samuel Bayard<br> (in his article "A Miscellany of Tune Notes," in Studies in Folklore)<br> finds that it was long part of the Welsh harpers' repertoire under<br> various titles, including "Hyd y Ffrwynen" (Length of the Rushes),<br> "Y Vrwynen Las" (The Green Rush), and "Llanciau y Dyffryn"<br> (The Lads of the Valley). He found it hard to determine whether the<br> melody was originally Welsh or English, but noted that it has been in<br> traditional Welsh repertoire for some time. No early song words survive<br> with the exception of a West-English carol set to the tune.<br> Printings can be found in British Harmony (1781), Bingley's Sixty of the<br> Most Admired Welsh Airs (c. 1803 or 1810), Parry's The Welsh Harper (1848)<br> and Bennett's Alawon fy Ngwlad {Lays of My Land} (1896).<br> This tune resembles "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", especially the initial phrase.<br> It was recorded on Country Capers by The New York Renaissance Band.<br>
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