Wednesday 12 September 2012
Tune of the Day: Ormond House
Traditional English dance tune
This is one of the most complex tunes in John Playford's The Dancing Master, the most important source of English Country Dance music from 1651 to about 1728. “Ormond House” was probably named in honor of James Butler, the second and last Duke of Ormond. The Butlers were powerful Irish lords and ardent Jacobites, whose cause was lost along with their lands and title early in the 18th century. As Protestant nobility the Butlers held Ireland for Charles I and Charles II, but maintained a residence, Ormond House, in London on St. James's Square.