Annotation:Friendly Visit (1) (The)

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FRIENDLY VISIT [1], THE (An Tiomcuairt). AKA and see "Almack's Hornpipe," "Callanan's Retreat," "Cooney's Hornpipe," "Empire Hornpipe," "English Clog Hornpipe," "Smith's Hornpipe (1) (The)," "Tamony's Hornpipe," "Whittee Deem Hornpipe," "Whittle Dene." Irish, English; Hornpipe. G Major (Harker/Rafferty, Mitchell, O'Neill, Raven): A Major (Mulvihill). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune is played in A Major in County Donegal where it is very popular, although the key of 'G' is more common in sessions to accommodate instruments other than the fiddle. Reg Hall (1998) says the tune has had enough currency in Northumberland to be considered local, with origins perhaps in the Irish migrant labor attracted by opportunities in the Tyneside dockyards. One local Northumbrian name for the hornpipe is "Whittle Dene." Whether the Northumbrian adoption predates O'Neill's early 20th century publications is unknown at this time. Another English version was collected by Cecil Sharp from the playing of Henry Cave (1850-1907, Castle Cary, Somerset) who called it by the rather generic title "Sailor's Hornpipe." The hornpipe was published in Scotland as "Empire Hornpipe," and, in America, in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883) as "Almack's Hornpipe."

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - piper Willie Clancy (1918-1973, Miltown Malbay, west Clare) [Mitchell]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].

Printed sources : - Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 258, p. 79. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 4), c. 1880's; No. 272, p. 29 (as "English Clog Hornpipe"). Mitchell (Dance Music of Willie Clancy), 1993; No. 114, p. 96. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 16, p. 92. Northumbrian Pipers' Tunebook, 1985; p. 43. O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 352, p. 172. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 196. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1696, p. 315. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 894, p. 154. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 171.

Recorded sources: -Piping Pig Productions PPPCD001, Jimmy O'Brien-Moran - "Seán Reid's Favourite" (1996. Learned from a casual recording of pipe and fiddle duet Bill Kelly and Bill {Willie} Clancy). Regal Zonophone MR1105 (78 RPM), Frank Lee's Tara Ceilidh Band (Oct., 1933). Topic TSCD 669, Will Atkinson (et al) - "Ranting and Reeling: Dance Music of the north of England" (1998. Atkinson {b. 1908} of Crookham, Northumberland, was an accordion player).

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]

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