Скачать или смотреть Parson's Farewell from John Playford's The English Dancing Master (1651) arr. D Blackwell Piano Solo

The piano arrangement I'm playing here (in D minor, the same key as it was published) and is from the ABRSM Piano Exam Pieces, Grade 1 2021 & 2022 book, ISBN 9781786013873. This version would be suitable for playing if you're looking for a fourth repertoire piece for a performance exam at Grade 1 level.

John Playford's The English Dancing Master is an iconic collection of traditional English dance tunes which he first published in 1651. There were then numerous further editions between then and 1728. He was first and foremost a bookseller and publisher based in London and published books on music theory, instruction guides for a number of instruments and psalters which were used in churches.

As well as containing the simple melody line, the Dancing Master also contains dance instructions so we know how the dances went to these tunes (which is amazing!). British period dramas - think Jane Austen - regularly feature these dances, as they were written down and recorded for history by John Playford, though I gather interpretation needs to be used as some of the instructions can be vague, or lacking (disclaimer: I know nothing about dance!).

Traditionally, these dances were probably most often played on the violin. They work really well on recorder and in this case, if you have a harpsichord voice on your digital piano, try it out on that - I think it sounds lovely.