Annotation:Duke's Retreat
X:1 T:Duke's Retreat M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel S:O'Farrell - Pocket Companion, vol. IV (c. 1810) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G/A/ | B/A/B/G/ E/F/G/A/ | BG G>d | (e/f/)g/e/ d/B/A/G/ | EA A2 G/A/ | (B/A/)B/G/ E/F/(G/A/) | (B/A/)(G/F/) (G/A/)B/d/ | e/f/g/e/ d/c/B/A/ | GE E2 :| |: g/a/g/e/ d/B/d/e/ | g/f/g/a/ b>g | a/g/a/b/ c'/b/a/g/ | ea a(g/a/) | b/a/(g/f/) e/f/g/e/ | d/B/A/G/ (c/B/)c/d/ | e/f/g/e/ d/B/(A/B/) | GE E2 :||
DUKE'S RETREAT. AKA and see "Alistair O’Carroll's," "Charley's Farewell," "Few Bob (The)," "Five Roads (The)," "Jenny's Dream (2)," "Mysterious Number One (The)," "Number One (1)." English, Irish, Hornpipe or Reel. E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. This tune is a close version of the English hornpipe or reel printed by Frank Kidson in his Old English Country Dances (p. 23), where it appears under the title "Number One (2)." Kidson had the tune (which he labelled a 'country dance tune') from an un-named manuscript in his possession that had been set down in Northumberland around 1816, "by some person residing in Darlington or in the north" (as there was a Darlington printers label inserted into the book). A version of the melody from Cumbria can be found in John Rook's 1840 music manuscript collection under the title "Jenny's Dream (2)."
Brendan Breathnach printed a version of the tune in 1976 as " "Number One (1)" collected from a fiddler in County Antrim. Researcher Conor Ward finds another (south) Ulster cognate version in biography:Rev. Luke Donnellan's Oriel-collected "Charley's Farewell." Count Clare musicians know the tune as "Few Bob (The)." Fr. John Quinn finds the minstrelsy-inspired "Dick Myers' Jig" to be a distanced but cognate member of this tune family.
Sometimes the first strain of this tune is the shared strain, as it has been married to differing second strains.