The Night Watch : In the Fields in Frost and Snows

In the Fields in Frost and Snows by Thomas D'Urfey, England. The tune appeared in the 1710, 1714, 1718, and 1728 editions of John Playford's The Dancing Master (multiple editions from 1651 to 1728). It appears to have been written by, and was first published by, Thomas D'Urfey (1653--1723) in his play, Wonders in the Sun, or, The Kingdom of the Birds (1706). The song was also printed in volume 2 of the 1719 edition of D'Urfey's more famous publication, Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy. The words of In the Fields in Frost and Snows reveal it to be the earliest known version of the song that later became Old MacDonald Had A Farm! Performed on cittern and cornamuse by The Night Watch, from Winter Winter, their sold-out show at The Artrix, Bromsgrove, on the theme of winter and Christmas early music