{"id":3281,"date":"2022-09-26T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=3281"},"modified":"2022-09-27T11:19:24","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T11:19:24","slug":"the-hardy-family-music-manuscript-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2022\/09\/26\/the-hardy-family-music-manuscript-books\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hardy Family Music Manuscript Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Times have changed from the Times they used to be; people don\u2019t care about us much now. I\u2019ve been thinking we must be almost the last left in the country of the old String players; Barrel-organs, and they things next door to \u2018em that you blow with your foot [ Harmoniums!] have come in terrible of late years\u2026\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

– Taken from “Under the Greenwood Tree” by Thomas Hardy<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Old Michael Mail would be amazed and delighted to know that, thanks to Thomas Hardy,\u00a0 the tunes and carols that he loved to play would not only survive, but flourish two hundred years later!<\/p>\n

Hardy treasured three hand-written books of music, songs, sacred anthems and carols formerly played by his Grandfather [ Thomas Hardy 1st<\/sup>] and his father [ Thomas Hardy 2nd<\/sup>!]<\/p>\n

Grandfather played the cello, which he called the bass-viol; and his son played the violin.\u00a0 They were regulars in the Puddletown church band at the beginning of the nineteenth century, before moving to Stinsford to form a string quartet, playing in gallery there to accompany the singing. The characters of the Tranter and Grandfather William in Hardy\u2019s first published novel Under the Greenwood Tree<\/em>\u00a0are generally accepted to be based on his father and grandfather; and the stories they told of the exploits of the church bands, and the cause of their demise, became the basis of the storyline of Under the Greenwood Tree<\/em> and many of Hardy\u2019s other short stories and poems.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Phil Humphries (left) and Tim Laycock looking at one of the old hand-written music books held by the Dorset History Centre.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One book belonged to Grandfather Hardy, and contains mostly solo lines of music written in the bass clef, as is usual for the cello.\u00a0 Another book belonged to Hardy\u2019s father, and in that most of the melody lines are written in the treble clef. Hardy himself was a good violinist and loved the family dance tunes. He transcribed many of them, together with instructions for a number of country dances, for the Hardy Players to use in their staged adaptations of Hardy novels before and after the First World War. Most of the tunes date from the end of the eighteenth century, and the early years of the nineteenth. The collections contain tunes from Scotland and Ireland, reflecting the musical tastes of the time. Hardy\u2019s preface to Under the Greenwood Tree<\/em> is well worth reading for anyone interested in the origin of the music, and the world of village musicians of the early nineteenth century.<\/p>\n

The names of the tunes are very evocative, and often commemorate great historical events and figures, such as Waterloo, The Tars of the Victory, and Lord Nelson\u2019s Hornpipe; many are concerned with love and romance, such as \u2018Kiss Me My Love and Welcome\u2019 and \u2018Sweet Jenny Jones\u2019. Hardy uses dance tunes to great literary and dramatic effect in his novels: \u2018The Devil\u2019s Dream\u2019 features in The Fiddler of the Reels<\/em>, the tale of Mop Ollamore, whose music has a bewitching effect on young ladies; and another version of the tune, \u2018The Devil Amongst the Tailors\u2019, becomes the downfall of the Longpuddle church band on the Sunday after Christmas in Absentmindedness in a Parish Choir.<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1947 the first selection of country dance tunes from the Hardy manuscripts was published by DNHAS, edited by Joan Brocklebank and Biddy Kindersley. The book has inspired generations of folk musicians, and still forms the basis of the repertoire of several local country dance bands. Since then, Roger Trim, formerly the violinist with the Yetties, has also produced a larger selection from the original manuscripts. But it\u2019s still a real thrill to see the original books, and to be able to play the very tunes mentioned in Hardy\u2019s writing.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

In October 2022 the Ridgeway Singers and Band<\/a> will be performing three shows bringing to life old music from the archives.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Come along and hear some of this wonderful local music played by the Ridgeway singers and Band in their October concerts. \u2018Enrico\u2019, reputedly Thomas Hardy\u2019s favourite fiddle tune, will feature in the concert!<\/p>\n

You can learn more about the Ridgeway Singers and Band, and book your tickets for one of their shows October, by visiting their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Times have changed from the Times they used to be; people don\u2019t care about us much now. I\u2019ve been thinking we must be almost the last left in the country of the old String players; Barrel-organs, and they things next door to \u2018em that you blow with your foot [ Harmoniums!] have come in terrible… Read more The Hardy Family Music Manuscript Books<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,6],"tags":[82,478,109,479,187],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3281"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3287,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281\/revisions\/3287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}