Prince William
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Mandolin Tablature
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Prince William" is an English march or country dance tune in 4/4 time and D Major (Brody) or<br> A Major (Barnes, Johnson, Miller & Perron, Sweet). The parts are played AABB.<br> The title commemorates Prince William Augustus (1721–1765), the Duke of Cumberland, third and<br> youngest son of King George II. Although his military career was generally lackluster, William<br> was hailed in England as the ‘hero of Culloden’ in 1745 for his defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie<br> Stuart's Jacobite army. However, due to his brutal suppression of the Highlands following the<br> battle he also earned the sobriquets 'Bloody Cumberland' or 'Butcher Cumberland.'<br> The tune and dance instructions harken back to his more gentle childhood years, however, and<br> first appeared in print in London music publisher John Walsh's Complete Country Dancing Master<br> (1731) (and several other subsequent publications by the music publisher), when the prince would<br> have been ten years old. It also appeared in rival publisher John Johnson's Wright's Complete<br> Collection of Celebrated Country Dances of c. 1740, edited by London dancing master Daniel Wright<br> who devised a three-couple country dance for it.<br> "Prince William" was given new life in the 1970's when it was employed as a march for New England<br> (and then North American) contra-dancing. It was quite popular for a time, appears on numerous<br> recordings of contra dance music of the period and was published in several collections. The<br> English traditional music band Brass Monkey heard the tune played by contra dance musicians while<br> on a tour in America, brought it home with with them and recorded it in 1986, reintroducing it to<br> English audiences.<br> This transcription is from Fennig's All Stars recording.<br> It was printed in Barnes' English Country Dance Tunes (1986),<br> Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> Callaghan's Hardcore English (2007),<br> Johnson's Kitchen Musician No. 8: 28 Country Dances (1988),<br> Miller & Perron's New England Fiddler's Repertoire (1983),<br> Pat Shaw's Holland As Seen in the English Country Dance (1960) and<br> Sweet's Fifer's Delight (1964/1981).<br> It was recorded by Bottle Hill on Light Our Way Along the Highway,<br> Fennig's All Stars on The Hammered Dulcimer,<br> Michael and McCreesh on Dance Like a Wave of the Sea (1978),<br> Brass Monkey on See How it Runs (1986) and<br> the Canterbury Dance Orchestra.<br> <br>
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