Robinson'sTune (a.k.a. Abbots Bromley Horn Dance) - Anahata, melodeon

This tune was collected in Abbots Bromley in 1910 by Cecil Sharp and was described as the "old tune" as played by "Wheelwright Robinson" in 1857. It's currently used by Thaxted Morris for an annual performance of the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance at a big morris gathering in June, accompanied by a solo fiddle. It's often imitated elsewhere, also using this tune, but the real Horn Dance, done annually in Abbots Bromley one Monday in early September, has never used this tune in living memory.
The original was played on a fiddle in G minor. I've transposed it to E minor out of necessity for a D/G melodeon.
This is another contribution for melodeon.net theme of the month May 2024 "tunes from where you live". Here that just means England, as I don't live anywhere near Abbots Bromley.

[@VideoLibraries]

I am so grateful for this wonderful recording! Preserves perfectly the harmonic roots from the middle ages! I have been looking for something like this… Thank you so much!

[@petefletcher]

I was at Thaxted ring meeting in 1969? The horn dance performance was the highlight of the weekend. It got the hair on the back of your neck up! I believe the reason that Thaxted are "allowed" to perform the dance is that they "rescued" it when Abbots Bromley ceased performing at some point.

[@anahatamelodeon]

I first heard it on a recording made at Thaxted on a tiny hand held cassette recorder, about 1975. Even with the poor quality of a tape played though a 2" speaker, the atmosphere of the performance was quite magical and when I got to hear it at the event couple of years later I was not disappointed.

[@mccypr]

Thanks! 🪗✌️🎻🙂😎

[@TheCryptKeeper8]

Lovely. Thanks.

[@paulmitchell3877]

Yes, thanks also

[@David_Barnert]

My understanding is that Sharp didn’t collect the tune in Abbots Bromley. When he published a description of the horn dance, he wrote that nobody remembered the “old tune.” He then heard from Robert Buckley, who, as a teenager some 60 years earlier had learned the tune from Robinson (an old man who had not been a Horn Dance musician but had learned the tune from them in his youth). Buckley had scribbled the tune notation down on paper and tucked it away in a closet, only to retrieve it many years later when he read Sharp’s comments. David Barnert / My video of the tune - kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5TYhaWwm7yHldU

[@anahatamelodeon]

Thank you David - that agrees with a story I heard recently - that somebody had written it down and posted it to Sharp. The story was told with some suspicion that Sharp's correspondent had made up the tune himself, but your version of it does look convincing.

[@stratpac]

Love that tune!! I'm going to work it up on my old 5String!! Thanks for posting. Wouldn't have the music lying around would you? would be a great help, thanks. No problem if not, just thought I'd ask.

[@anahatamelodeon]

You'll find it at folktunefinder.com/tunes/67580 in the original key. As it happens my own transcription from years ago.

[@stratpac]

@@anahatamelodeon Hey thanks for that. I'll get to work on it.

[@Gelsenbury]

❤ I love this tune, but the B part is tricky on mandolin.