See video from KØST2017.

Provenance: Possibly derived from a German tune Die Holzauktion Rheinländer comp. by Franz Meissner in 1890-1892, with lyrics by Otto Teich. First published in Denmark in 1892. The German lyrics describe the steps of parts (a) and (b). A Norwegian teacher and song writer for children used the tune in a Christmas song 'På låven sitter nissen' in 1905, which in Danish became 'Paa loftet sidder nissen'. In a 1907 edition the tune in 358:240 is used in another song entitled 'Aa jeg vet en sæter'.
Source: Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme/ Gamle danse fra Randersegnen. 4:e opl. København: Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme, 1997, pp. 17-18.
See also Sørensen, Per. 'På loftet sidder Nissen' og Norsk rheinlænder fra Randers in: Dansens og musikkens rødder nr. 11. December 1996. [in Danish]

See YouTube videos [numbers in parentheses refers to number of sheet music above]: 'Icke hurtig' with Bugge & Eget, 'Icke hurtig' with Heebøl & Vinther, 'Melchiors rejlænder' with Impuls Trio, 'Melchiors rejlænder' with Mads Hansens Kapel, 'rejlænder(5)' Kristian Bugge & Lirum Larum, 'rejlænder(5)' Læsøgruppen, 'rejlænder(6)' Bugge, Eget & Maack Davis, 'rejlænder(6)' Ethno Denmark 2011, 'Den strejkende general' with Lees & Bloch; 'Den strejkende general' Tjavsmose Trio; 'Den strejkende general' Bugge &am; Eget;

Source: Krak, Kenneth et al/ Læsø - dans & musik. s.l.: Folkemusikhusringen, 1995. pp. 40-41, 140-147.
See also Sørensen, Per. 'På loftet sidder Nissen' og Norsk rheinlænder fra Randers in: Dansens og musikkens rødder nr. 11. December 1996. [in Danish]

Source: Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme/ Gamle danse fra Sjælland. 4:e opl. København: Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme, 1998, p. 7.

See video from KØST2017.

Source: Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme/ Gamle danse fra Randersegnen. 4:e opl. København: Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme, 1997, pp. 20-21.

See video on Dancilla [Selected couples dancing Forgangen Nat/ Tappenstreg, the majority dancing galoping fra Døstrup].

Provenance:
Parts A and B of the music have their origin in old German marches. Part C thought to have been added by Carl Christian Møller [Korpsklassikere].
At least from 1748 through to the 1930's, the tune Tappenstreg, was played in all towns with a military garrison to signal curfew hour (Tappenstreg = a line drawn across the cask taps indicating they were now closed), ie calling soldiers back to barracks from the taverns, etc. [Sørensen]
Traditionally played as the last dance. Once it had been played, nothing would induce the music to play any more. At best, they might play Tappenstreg once more. [Legestuen, p.53]
The tempo varied from very slow, accelerating gradually to such a fast tempo that the dancers could barely keep up, then again slow and accelerating to a fast tempo, and so on. [Legestuen, p.53]
-- Various dances were done to the Tappenstreg music, including polka, rheinländer polka, galop, galopin, totrin (pivot) - the latter towards the end when the tempo was too fast for other steps - but especially galop. [Legestuen, p.53]

Printed source: Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme (FFF)/ Legestuen. 5:e opl. København: Foreningen til Folkdansens Fremme, 2007, pp. 52-53.
See also Sørensen, Per. Tappenstreg eller Forgangen nat fra Legestue-heftet og Sdr. Jyllands-heftet in: Dansens og musikkens rødder nr. 7. August 1996. [in Danish]