Thehornpipe is any of several dance forms and their associated tunes, played and danced inGreat Britain andIreland and elsewhere from the 16th century until the present day. The dance is still performed in competition.George Frideric Handel's hornpipe fromWater Music is one of his most famous compositions.
.jpg)
Hornpipes are a class of wind instruments. One candidate for the specific hornpipe that might have leant its name to the dance is thepib-corn.[1]: 544 There is no clear evidence the dance was named after any instrument, and many alternative etymologies have been proposed.[2][3]
References to hornpipes abound in literature.Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th century translation ofThe Romaunt of the Rose mentions the hornpipe as a Cornish instrument.[4][5]: 143 In a 1609 pamphlet titledOld Meg of Hereford-shire, the hornpipe dance is described as a product ofLancashire.[6]Michael Drayton dwells on "Lancastrian nymphs" dancing the hornpipe inPoly-Olbion (1612).[7][8] InThe King's Entertainment at Welbeck (1633),Ben Jonson describes it as a dance native toNottingham andDarbishire.[1]: 544f
The hornpipe became a regular feature of English theater. Dancers would perform hornpipes between the acts of larger stage works. Many tunes were named after the dancers who performed them: Fishar's Hornpipe, Aldridge's Hornpipe, Richar's Hornpipe, Miss Baker's Hornpipe, West's Hornpipe, Durang's Hornpipe, etc.[9]: 26 One of the standard dances became the "sailor's hornpipe", where the performer would appear asJack Tar and emulate the life aboard ship.[10] By the 19th century, the ability to dance a hornpipe was a basic part of an entertainer's toolkit.[11]
A legend took hold that reversed the origin of the hornpipe. In some tellings it was invented by sailors stuck in thedoldrums.[12] In fact, the popular dance was adopted by sailors likeCaptain Cook who recognized it as an effective exercise routine aboard ships which have limited space.[13] It soon became a popular pastime and an official part ofRoyal Navy training.[14][15]
Charles Dickens mentions the hornpipe inDombey & Son andMartin Chuzzlewit.[16][17] He was also a skilled dancer of the sailor's hornpipe.[18]Thomas Hardy describescountry dances in the seventh chapter ofUnder the Greenwood Tree (1872). In a 1926 letter, he recalls that he must have had in mind the "College Hornpipe", among other dances. He also included his notation of the hornpipe as he recalled it six decades later.[19][20]
Thecountry dance form of the hornpipe differs from the solostep dance.[22] Couples execute a series of steps and turns in an endless variety of combinations.[23] In an 1816 dance manual, the "College Hornpipe" requires, among other movements, the "top couple to swing with the right hand round the second couple, then swing with the left hand".[24] In the 18th century, dancing masters were widely employed to teach these dances to English gentility.[25]: 278 There are hornpipes inBeauchamp-Feuillet notation.[26][27]
Solo hornpipes were typically danced with folded arms as a display of strength. One dance historian described the posture as a demonstration of the English spirit, "The upper part of the body is kept in a state of calm repose, while the lower limbs are executing the most complicated, rapid, and difficult move-ments. Is not all this typical of an ideally English trait? To appear calm and collected amid circumstances calculated to induce a condition of physical and mental agitation."[28]
A travelogue from 1798 described hornpipes being danced at a ball inWales, "The ball was concluded by a contest of agility between two brothers, who danced two distinct hornpipes with so much power and muscle, variety of step and inflexible perseverance, as exceeded everything we had seen."[29] A typical response from female dancers would be something like acotillion.[30]
In competition, the hornpipe is a hard shoe dance, which enables judges to hear the steps.[31] In Ireland, the dance is traditionally performed by men. Dancers will use slower tempi to show off their virtuosity.[32]An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha requires a minimumtempo in competition of 76 beats per minute, and the standard tempo is 113 bpm.[33]
Hornpipes were originally in triple meters like3
2,6
2,9
4, or9
8.[2] In 1776,John Hawkins explained, "The measure of the Hornpipe is triple time of six crotchets in a bar, four whereof are to be beat with a down, and two with an up hand."[34]
In 1853,William Stenhouse enthused that tunes like "Wee Totum Fogg", "The Dusty Miller", "Go to Berwick, Johnnie", "Mount your Baggage", "Robin Shure in Har'est" have been played in Scotland "time out of mind".[35] Tunes that were catalogued in the 18th century in collections like theWilliam Dixon manuscript remained virtually unchanged when transcribed by 20th century practitioners likeTom Clough.[36]
By the timeJohn Playford was anthologizing hornpipes in collections likeApollo's Banquet (1669), the melodies could be categorized into subgenres like bagpipe-hornpipes, jig-hornpipes, or hornpipe-jigs. An important feature of hornpipes were the divisions in the tune which enabled repetition and variation.[1]: 544 A9
8 hornpipe, orslip jig, like "Mad Moll" went through several manifestations. It turns up inJohn Gay'sballad operaPolly (1729). It was anthologized twice inThe Dancing Master, once as "Mad Moll" and again as "The Virgin Queen".[1]: 603f
The hornpipe was often used indance suites byBaroque composers likeGuillaume de Morlaye,Antony Holborne,William Byrd, andThomas Arne.[3]Hugh Aston's Hornepype of 1522 is one of the earliest known examples of a composer writing for the dance form.Henry Purcell andGeorge Frideric Handel composed hornpipes and considered the rhythm as characteristically English.[37]: 119–20
Purcell's "Hornpipe No. 8" from the incidental music forAbdelazer (1695) was anthologized by Playford.[38] The hornpipe also provided the vehicle for one of classical music's most famous melodies in Handel'sWater Music (1717).[39] The movement is titled "Alla Hornpipe", a marking Handel also used inSemele (1744).[3] By that time, hornpipes had become shorthand for carefree quirkiness in classical music.[40]
By the 19th century, the hornpipe definitively evolved into common time (4
4) and its variants.[41] "The Sailor's Hornpipe" is the most widely known melody from this latter style. Its even rhythm is distinct from the dotted rhythms of hornpipes like "The Harvest Home". A hybrid of these two rhythms became known as the "Newcastle Style".[42]
Many hornpipes were written during the 19th century, like "The Groves" and "The Boys of Bluehill" in Ireland.[2]: 23, 41 The fiddler-publicanJames Hill was a noted English composer of hornpipes.[43] After theassassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881, a hornpipe was written in his honor.[44]
3
2 hornpipe:
4
4 hornpipes:
Links to related articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
