For voice and pianoforte ; "Dedicated to Georgiana"--Caption; Engraved; Words for verses 2 and 3 printed as text on p.3; Composer unknown. Initials C.F.D.--p. 3.
Note
First edition of the first piece of published music related to the banjo, and a very early example of Negro dialect song. The full history of this intriguing piece remains to be written. It is dedicated to Georgiana, presumably Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who died in 1806. Two copies of the present edition are located on OCLC, at Brigham Young University, and University of Glasgow Library, which dates it to 1802. The lyrics, here signed "C.F.D." on p. 3, were published among the poems appended to Robert Charles Dallas' Adrastus, a Tragedy. Amabel or the Cornish Lovers; and other poems, London, 1823. They are attribed there to "Charlotte," with the following note: "The melody of this song, which was published some years ago, by Broderip and Wilkinson, is, with very little variation, such as was caught by ear from some of the negroes. The writer of the words took down the notes, and added the harmony." - p. 145. Dallas was born in Jamaica, a setting that adds credence to the anecdote on the song's origins. Early accounts of slave life there include descriptions of gourd ancestors of the banjo. As preserved in its present setting however, it must be said, the melody sounds more like something that could have been sung by Mozart's Papageno. At any rate, a rare and significant banjo incunabulum, in perfect condition.
