BackThe Fallibroome Collection


Fallibroome

What is Fallibroome?  It's a collection of six books of dances, but not in the same way as Playford, Thompson or Johnson, which were original collections published at the time.  The Fallibroome collection contains modern interpretations of 18th century dances from various sources.  The interpretations are by Bernard Bentley who lived in a small village in the parish of Prestbury in Cheshire called Fallibroome.  So someone may say “That's a Fallibroome dance”, someone else may say “No, it's from the Dancing Master”, and they're both right!  One thing the dances are not, generally speaking, is Playford: the Dancing Master was being published by John Young.  Actually there are a few published by John or Henry Playford, but Bernard Bentley generally found these in much later publications.  These are mainly 18th century dances, a few from the early nineteenth century and one square written by Bernard Bentley himself.  This, “Saint Andrew's Assembly”, is totally out of character because it is Playford-style — a set dance of three figures, using the Up a double, Siding and Arming introductions.  Though to be fair, “The Spanish Gypsie” is also of this format even though it appeared in all editions of The Dancing Master.

Bernard Bentley, who died in 2003, was a Mancunian and a founder member of the Manchester Morris Men.  He was an authority on North-west Morris, as well as a noted interpreter of English country dances.

The 18th century was the heyday of the triple minor dance.  Bernard Bentley wisely converted many of them to duple minor or three-couple sets.  His explanations mainly use the same terms as Cecil Sharp (except the unexplained “Foot it”), but he isn't so good at indicating the timing of the movements; his descriptions can be a bit vague.  On the other hand he's very honest about the changes he's made to the dances, either to convert them to three couple sets or because the original instructions didn't seem to make sense or fit the music.  In some cases I've dropped his changes and gone back to something closer to the original; in one or two cases I've made changes myself (and I will tell you so when I'm calling the dances).

There are 102 Fallibroome dances, and many of these don't appeal to me (at least on paper) because I don't feel there's enough to them.  They may be partly redeemed by good tunes — see what you think.  Bernard Bentley certainly had an ear for a good tune — often an unusual tune — and some musicians say that there's very definitely a “Fallibroome” style, different from a “Playford” style.  I've now set all the tunes — see the table below — and I'm not convinced of this.  I think what they may be hearing is the difference between the early tunes of John and Henry Playford, and the later tunes of John Young and many other publishers.  And having said that many of the dances are too simple for me, I still struggle to call “Duchess of Grafton” with its 10-bar A-music and 11-bar B-music!

Fallibroome - New Edition

When I started dancing, Fallibroome was a collection that nobody knew: they'd met “Miss Sayers' Allemande” or “Chelmsford Assembly” but that was as far as it went.  Wild Thyme made Fallibroome something of a speciality and produced two albums — “Wild Thyme plays Fallibroome” and “The Beau's Retreat” — containing what they believed were the best dances and tunes.  Why not try some of them out and see if you can discover the Fallibroome magic.  EFDSS republished the series in one book in 2009, complete with facsimiles of the originals, plus “A Fallibroome Garden” — twelve dances composed by Bernard Bentley in eighteenth-century style to a set of Contretänze by Beethoven and originally published as a booklet in 1990 — and I hope this will make the Fallibroome dances more popular.  The original books were unchorded but the new book has chords by Nicholas Broadbridge.  Read about it here (PDF).  You will search the EFDSS website in vain for this book — the shop has now been outsourced to uk.patronbase.com/_EFDSS/Store and I haven't yet managed to find it there.  You can buy it from Folk Sales in England or CDSS in the States.

Two top favourites with English dancers in North America are Saint Margaret's Hill and Dublin Bay, though the dancers don't know that the versions they love are from Fallibroome.


And for the people who won't be satisfied with anything less than a complete list in alphabetical order, here are the titles and the volume in which they appear.  In some cases the titles are links to my own notes or interpretations, and in all cases a circle button is a link to my version of the music which you can print out or listen to.

3 • The Accomplished Maid     Music5 • The Anna Maria     Music2 • As Quick As You Please     Music5 • Assembly of Lovers     Music6 • The Balloon     Music1 • Barn Elms     Music2 • The Beau's Retreat     Music4 • The Beaus of the Park     Music4 • The Beaux Delight     Music1 • Blackwell Hall     Music6 • Bouzer Castle     Music4 • Burghee's Hole     Music5 • Burgundy's Flight     Music4 • Buskin     Music6 • Camberwell     Music3 • Capt. Catton's Maggot     Music3 • Chelmsford Assembly     Music5 • Clapham Frolick     Music6 • Cock Ey'd Brown     Music4 • Cream Pot     Music5 • The Cuckoo's Nest     Music1 • Daphne's Delight     Music4 • Doll Tearsheet's Rant     Music1 • Doway     Music2 • Draper's Gardens     Music1 • Dublin Bay     Music6 • Duchess of Grafton     Music4 • Easter Eve     Music5 • Easter Thursday     Music6 • The Eliza     Music3 • Enfield Wash     Music3 • The Green Man     Music1 • Hambleton's Round O     Music5 • The Happy Pair     Music6 • Hare Hatch     Music1 • High Ginks     Music4 • Huntington's Maggot     Music2 • I often for my Jenny strove     Music1 • In the Fields in Frost and Snow  Music2 • John the Madman     Music5 • Johnny, cock thy Beaver     Music4 • The Jolly Cooper     Music6 • Joy After Sorrow     Music6 • Kings Arms Assembly     Music5 • The Ladies' Joy     Music3 • Lord Anson for ever     Music6 • Love and Beauty     Music2 • Love and a Bottle     Music1 • Love's Triumph     Music4 • Mars and Venus     Music2 • The Merry Companion     Music3 • Merry Girls of Maidstone     Music5 • The Miser's Jewel     Music4 • Miss Barrett's Waltz     Music3 • Miss Nancy's Delight     Music1 • Miss Sayers' Allemande     Music6 • Miss Silvie's Delight     Music3 • Miss Sparks's Maggot     Music1 • Monk's March w/ the Wanders Music2 • Mount Hills     Music1 • Mrs. Hill's Dance     Music1 • Mrs. Savage's Whim     Music3 • New Year's Day in the Morning  Music5 • Paston's Maggot     Music1 • Paul's Alley     Music6 • Philandering     Music1 • The Physical Snob     Music2 • The Pilgrim     Music4 • Pinks and Lillies     Music3 • The Primrose     Music6 • Prince Frederick's Hornpipe     Music2 • Put In All     Music4 • Rakes of Rochester     Music5 • Ratcliff Cross     Music6 • Ravenscroft's Hornpipe     Music6 • Saint Andrews Assembly     Music1 • St. Brides     Music4 • St. Giles's Pound     Music3 • St. James's Beauties     Music1 • St. Margaret's Hill     Music6 • The Sea Nymphs     Music4 • Shropshire Lass     Music4 • The Spanish Gypsie     Music3 • The Splendid Shilling     Music5 • Sprigs of Laurel     Music2 • Three Coney Walk     Music5 • Tom Jones     Music4 • Top and Bottom     Music3 • The Topaz     Music2 • A Trip o'er Tweed     Music3 • Trip to Virginia     Music2 • Tunbridge Walks     Music

2 • Union Jigg     Music2 • Vienna     Music5 • The Virgin's Frolick     Music2 • Westmorland     Music5 • Wildboar's Maggot     Music6 • Wolverton Hall     Music5 • Woodlark     Music5 • Worcester Assembly     Music3 • The Young Fox     Music2 • Zephyrs and Flora     Music