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John Playford (1623–1686/7) was a London bookseller, publisher, and member of the Stationers' Company, who published books on music theory, instruction books for several instruments, and psalters with tunes for singing in churches. He is perhaps best known today for his publication of The English Dancing Master in 1651.

Playford was born in Norwich. He served an apprenticeship with a publisher (John Benson) from 1639/40 to 1647, after which he opened a shop in the porch of Temple Church. A bookseller, publisher, and member of the Stationers' Company, Playford published books on music theory, instruction books for several instruments, and psalters with tunes for singing in churches. He is perhaps best known today for his publication of The English Dancing Master in 1651 (later editions were known as 'The Dancing Master'). The work contains both the music and instructions for English country dances. This came about after Playford was working as a (Civil) war correspondent and was captured by Cromwell's men and told that, if he valued his freedom (as a sympathiser with the King), he might consider a change of career. Although many of the tunes in the book are attributed to him today, he probably did not write any of them. Most were popular melodies that had existed for years. John Playford published several other collections of music, including:

• A Musicall Banquet (1651)
• Catch that Catch Can (1652)
• A Booke of New Lessons for Cithern (1652, revised 1666 as Musick's Delight on the Cithren)
• Musick's Recreation on the Lyra Viol (1652)
• A Breefe Introduction to the Skill of Musick (1654)
• Court Ayres (1655)
• Choice Musick to the Psalmes of David (1656)
• The Whole Book of Psalms (1661)
• The Musical Companion (1667) - songs and catches
• Apollo's Banquet for the Treble Violin (1669)
• Psalms and Hymns (1671) - psalm tunes in four parts
• Musick's Handmaid (1678) - songs for the harpsichord
• The Division Violin (1685) - a set of 26 tunes which start simply and build complex variations ("divisions") on the original melody. While many of the pieces were accessible to amateurs, several featured advanced techniques (for the time) like scordatura, fingered double stops, and large interval leaps across the strings.

Playford retired in 1684 and was succeeded in his publishing business by his son, Henry Playford. He died in London in late 1686 or early 1687.

References

• Randel, Don Michael, The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music (1996), Belknap Press. ISBN 0-674-37299-9.
• Temperley, Nicholas, "John Playford and the Metrical Psalms", Journal of the American Musicological Society 25 (1972): 331–78.
• Temperley, Nicholas, "John Playford and the Stationers' Company", Music and Letters 54 (1973): 203–12.
• Thompson, Robert, "Manuscript music in Purcell's London", Early Music 1995 XXIII(4):605-620; doi:10.1093/earlyj/XXIII.4.605

See also

• English Country Dance
• The Dancing Master