Music

Successful Campaign

woodcut of fiddler and woman dancing the Hornpipe

From Catchpenny Prints, Bowles and Carver, London, first published in the late 1780s

This tune is also known as "Success to the Campaign" and "Bath Frollic." It appeared as early as 1764 in a small book of country dances printed in London and soon became a popular dance melody. It is one of a number of dances named to reflect, or remember, battles, leaders, and sentiments about the American Revolution. It was also used as a marching tune for fifers and drummers. As a visiting French dignitary observed while attending a ball in Philadelphia in 1780, "These dances, like the 'toasts' we drink at table, have a marked connection with politics."

Instrumentation: fife, fiddle, hammered dulcimer, flute, soprano recorder