Just popped downstairs from the computer and found SO in her customary position on the sofa captivated by the costume drama, BUT everyone at the ball FURIOUSLY dancing to a vigorous rendition of Drowsy Maggie on fiddle.
Shurely Shome Mishtake ?
NOT in 18?20s? Bath, or wherever ?
Sack the music arranger I say !
Austen specifically mentions people dancing reels in several books . There was a change around this period (which Austen herself criticized) towards dancing quadrilles and waltzes became more popular. The waltz was considered scandalous when it first appeared, due to people dancing closely in couples.
All the written evidence is that these dances were all pretty lively affairs, not the stately processions you often see in period dramas.
Choice of tune might not be right, but the rest of it probably was - these are courting teenagers, after all. She only mentions one tune name "la boulanger" in her novels, but the dance masters working in Bath at the time, like Neil Gow & Thomas Wilson wrote about playing scottish & irish reels.
The film of "Sense And Sensibility" (the one with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet in it) had a very rousing dance scene to Baroque music being played. It showed Baroque could be a whole lot more exciting than I had imagined, and probably was.
That's not as bad as a 1980 BBC Pride & Predjuidce that had a concertina being played during a dance. An instrument that wouldn't be invented till decades later!
Yes, there was also a concertina being waved about during the barndance in the film version of "Far from the Madding Crowd", Hardy's writing being all nostalgia for an earlier period of his century, it would have been unlikely.
"The invertor of the English concertina was the scientist Chareles Wheatstone (1802-1875) who in 1825 constructed a mouth organ with free reeds governed by a small button keyborad... Further experiments led to bellows blown concertina patened in 1844. "
New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments v. 1 pgs 459-460
Jane Austen died in 1817. Pride & Predjudice is set in the late 1790's.
Well at least the concertina in the version of Pride & Predjudice wasn't playing Drowsy Maggie!
German or Anglo-German concertinas were regarded as a lower-class instrument and English concertina had an air of bourgeois respectability. English concertinas were most popular as parlour instruments for classical music, while the German concertinas were more associated with the popular dance music of the day. (wikipedia)
Sorry kuec I will choose a reliable scholarly dictionary like the New Grove Dictionary over Wikipedia any day. While the German concertina is mentioned in the New Grove Dictionary, (1834) the English one came first. Now here's something interesting the co-inventor of the German concertina Bushmann. He invented the harmonica!
Still niether German, Anglo-German or English concertinas would have been around in the 18th century. (Sorry Skip Henderson)
I think the english was both the first, and also the more expensive, concertina, and therefore would not have been affordable by the hoi polloi. The Science Museum had had a display of early concertinas, which has been re-arranged, but did include an early mouth-blown version, looking like one end of an english but with a proturbant mouthpiece, a bit like a Victorian melodica, I guess.
In earlier research I discovered that the violin was NOT an acceptable instrument for Victorian ladies to play ( Why ? No underarm deodourants available for when playing with raised elbows ? ) but the concertina, seated firmly in your lap, was, and, of course, had the same range as the violin.
Incidentally, a one-off visitor to one of the sessions I convene was an excellent Scots player of the anglo, who insisted that the concertina was a 20th c. invention. I didn't feel inclined to argue face-to-face.
My SO called me into the room to identify the tune being played (mercifully, it's one of the few I can!), but it occurred to me that the sound of that fiddle being was way out of character for the period (late 18th c) - there's already been useful discussion of whether the tune was also out of character. For starters, gut strings would have been used and the instrument would have been much quieter. It would still have been heard, though.
Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
Just popped downstairs from the computer and found SO in her customary position on the sofa captivated by the costume drama, BUT everyone at the ball FURIOUSLY dancing to a vigorous rendition of Drowsy Maggie on fiddle.
Shurely Shome Mishtake ?
NOT in 18?20s? Bath, or wherever ?
Sack the music arranger I say !
# Posted on April 27th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
why stop at the music arranger?
i would cull anyone involved with producing that period drama p*sh.
# Posted on April 27th 2008 by DubChieftain
Re: Drowsy Maggie....elsewhere
Steady now - the period dramas are usually alright, although I have to admit that they seem to have made a bit of an (how shall I say it) error...
Drowsy Maggie, being a folk tune, wouldn'tve been played at society balls of any kind - let alone the high society of Bath!
On a happy note, there's an episode of Shaun the Sheep (called Save the Tree) with a cute version of Drowsy Maggie in it....
# Posted on April 28th 2008 by Purfling
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
Austen specifically mentions people dancing reels in several books . There was a change around this period (which Austen herself criticized) towards dancing quadrilles and waltzes became more popular. The waltz was considered scandalous when it first appeared, due to people dancing closely in couples.
All the written evidence is that these dances were all pretty lively affairs, not the stately processions you often see in period dramas.
Choice of tune might not be right, but the rest of it probably was - these are courting teenagers, after all. She only mentions one tune name "la boulanger" in her novels, but the dance masters working in Bath at the time, like Neil Gow & Thomas Wilson wrote about playing scottish & irish reels.
# Posted on April 28th 2008 by Ceratonia
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
The film of "Sense And Sensibility" (the one with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet in it) had a very rousing dance scene to Baroque music being played. It showed Baroque could be a whole lot more exciting than I had imagined, and probably was.
# Posted on April 28th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
That's not as bad as a 1980 BBC Pride & Predjuidce that had a concertina being played during a dance. An instrument that wouldn't be invented till decades later!
# Posted on April 28th 2008 by Pirate-Fiddler
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
Yes, there was also a concertina being waved about during the barndance in the film version of "Far from the Madding Crowd", Hardy's writing being all nostalgia for an earlier period of his century, it would have been unlikely.
# Posted on April 28th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
I thought the first concertinas were being made by 1830 - that's taking it a fair way back. For Thomas Hardy, I mean.
# Posted on April 28th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
Yes, but would one have filtered as far as rural Dorset ( sorry, Wessex ) ?
# Posted on April 28th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
"The invertor of the English concertina was the scientist Chareles Wheatstone (1802-1875) who in 1825 constructed a mouth organ with free reeds governed by a small button keyborad... Further experiments led to bellows blown concertina patened in 1844. "
New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments v. 1 pgs 459-460
Jane Austen died in 1817. Pride & Predjudice is set in the late 1790's.
Well at least the concertina in the version of Pride & Predjudice wasn't playing Drowsy Maggie!
# Posted on April 28th 2008 by Pirate-Fiddler
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
If this leads to a wider recognition of the concertina, a marvellous instrument of German origin
, I'm all for it.
# Posted on April 28th 2008 by kuec
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
German or Anglo-German concertinas were regarded as a lower-class instrument and English concertina had an air of bourgeois respectability. English concertinas were most popular as parlour instruments for classical music, while the German concertinas were more associated with the popular dance music of the day. (wikipedia)
# Posted on April 28th 2008 by kuec
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
Sorry kuec I will choose a reliable scholarly dictionary like the New Grove Dictionary over Wikipedia any day. While the German concertina is mentioned in the New Grove Dictionary, (1834) the English one came first. Now here's something interesting the co-inventor of the German concertina Bushmann. He invented the harmonica!
Still niether German, Anglo-German or English concertinas would have been around in the 18th century. (Sorry Skip Henderson)
# Posted on April 29th 2008 by Pirate-Fiddler
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
I think the english was both the first, and also the more expensive, concertina, and therefore would not have been affordable by the hoi polloi. The Science Museum had had a display of early concertinas, which has been re-arranged, but did include an early mouth-blown version, looking like one end of an english but with a proturbant mouthpiece, a bit like a Victorian melodica, I guess.
In earlier research I discovered that the violin was NOT an acceptable instrument for Victorian ladies to play ( Why ? No underarm deodourants available for when playing with raised elbows ? ) but the concertina, seated firmly in your lap, was, and, of course, had the same range as the violin.
Incidentally, a one-off visitor to one of the sessions I convene was an excellent Scots player of the anglo, who insisted that the concertina was a 20th c. invention. I didn't feel inclined to argue face-to-face.
# Posted on April 29th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
Is that where Roger Daltry got "Mamma's got a squeeze box Daddy never sleeps at night from?"
# Posted on April 29th 2008 by Pirate-Fiddler
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
My SO called me into the room to identify the tune being played (mercifully, it's one of the few I can!), but it occurred to me that the sound of that fiddle being was way out of character for the period (late 18th c) - there's already been useful discussion of whether the tune was also out of character. For starters, gut strings would have been used and the instrument would have been much quieter. It would still have been heard, though.
# Posted on April 30th 2008 by lazyhound
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
fiddle being played
# Posted on April 30th 2008 by lazyhound
Re: Drowsy Maggie on BBC1s' Jane Austen drama...
Oh, and if you listen carefully I reckon whoever was playing that fiddle was also using the very 20th century micrometer tailpiece.
# Posted on May 3rd 2008 by lazyhound