LENO HORNPIPE. Scottish, Hornpipe (cut time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune is credited to John B. Easton, Edinburgh, by editor W.B. Laybourn in Köhlers’ Violin Repository, Book 3 (1885). The title may refer to English entertainer George Grant, born George Wild Gavin in 1860, who took the stage name Dan Leno early on as a childhood member of "the little Leno's", a family act. Leno was a small man, only 5 ft., 3 in., tall, but became the most popular entertainer in Britain. In the 1880's however, he was best known for his clog-dancing, after winning his first competition in Wakefield (the prize for which was a purse of silver and a leg of mutton). He was encouraged by another comic singer to enter a clog-dancing competition in Leeds for the larger prize of a gold and silver belt, worth ₤50, a huge sum for the times, and the right to the title 'Champion Clog-Dancer of the World.' Leno entered the competition as a relative unknown, and bested two well-regarded local dancers to take top honors. A biographer, John J. Source de l'extrait biographique : Wikipedia (Retracter)...(lire la suite)
