Early English Banjo

 

  The notation here is in the keys of A and D as published by Spratt for 6-string banjo tuned eABEG#B. The youtube recording of this tune is transposed into G and C for the 7-string relative banjo tuning gGCDGBD.

  Charles Coote Jr was a prolific and highly successful composer of popular dance tunes in the Victorian era. His 'Rosalie Polka' of 1862 incorporates motifs from the 1856 song 'Rosalie the Prairie Flower' by George Frederick Root. 'Rosalie the Prairie Flower' was also published in 'A Banjo Tutor for 5, 6 or 7 Strings', E. Panormo, London, 1864.

 

 

 

  This breakdown was published in 'Banjo Tutor', Harry Spratt, London, 1872. Originally published in the key of A for  6-string banjo tuned eABEG#B, here it is transposed into G for 7-string banjo tuned gGCDGBD.

  This tune appeared in 'Breakdowns, Dances, Hornpipes, &c. Arranged for the Banjo', E. Panormo, London 1865. The melody arranged by Edward Panormo is a variant of the popular English country dance tune 'Speed the Plough'.  The same variant with the same title 'Steam Up' was also published in 'Metzler & Co.'s Tutor for the Banjo', Metzler & Co., London, 1877.

 

  This composition can now be correctly attributed to Harry Spratt and dated to no later than 1877. Initially  research suggested that the tune may relate to an earlier 1869 tune of the same name written by London-based composer W. H. Montgomery. In fact Spratt's Emmeline Schottische is his own original composition that he included in his Banjo Melodist No.1, London, 1877. This tune as originally published in Banjo Melodist No.1 (1877) was in the keys of A and D for a 6-string banjo tuned eABEG#B. For the project recording the tune was transposed to G and C for a 7-string banjo tuned gGCDGBD. Banjo tab for the tune as published in the original keys of A and D is below.