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134 The National Music of America.
as a children's song; the second period is not known in Holland. There is a possibility, therefore, that the English country dance (quoted a little later on) was elaborated from a Dutch nursery-song, or it may be another of the accidental resemblances with which music is so copiously strewn.
There are also the usual " resemblance" theories, which would give the tune a Spanish and even a Hungarian origin. The following note is from a secretary of legation, at Madrid :'
" The tune • Yankee Doodle,' from the first of my showing it here, has been acknowledged by persons acquainted with music to bear a strong resemblance to the popular airs of Biscay; and yesterday, a professor from the north recognised it as being much like the ancient sword dance played on solemn occasions by the people of San Sebastian. He says the tune varies in those provinces, and proposes in a couple of months to give me the changes as they are to be found in their different towns, that the matter may be judged of and fairly understood. Our national
1 Quoted by Nason, " Our National Song," p. 20. |
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