Annotation:Iron Legs
X:107 T:Ironlegs. WI.107 M:C| L:1/8 Q:1/2=90 C:"a hornpipe" B:Wm Irwin, Folio MS, c1850. AGG's Transcription R:.Hornipe O:England A:Lake District Z:vmp.Chris Partington.2005 K:D AG|F2AF E2AG|FGEF D2A2|B2c2 d2ed|cdBc A3G| F2AF E2AG|FGEF D2A2|Bcde fedc|d2d2 d2:| |:g2|fgfg efef|fgfg efef|dede cdcd|dede cdcd| BcBc ABAB|BcBc ABAg|Bcde fedc|d2d2 d2:|
IRON LEGS. AKA - "Iron League." AKA and see "Butcher's Delight." English, Hornpipe or Reel (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The 'A' part is closely related to the melody "Petronella." The source for the tune is Lancashire musician John Winder and Cumberland fiddler William Irwin (1822-1889). Manchester, England, musician John Roose also had a version in his large mid-19th century music manuscript collection, albeit under the title "Butcher's Delight." The latter was a cooper who worked for most of his life for the Elterwater Gunpowder Company. Irwin also had an active local career (he lived in Langdale) as a fiddler who played for decades in a church band, in numerous local pubs, and for various gatherings and parties such tea parties ("auld wives' bakes," said Irwin) and Christmas-time 'Hunsups' (Hunts-Up). Irwin himself noted in his ms. that "Iron Legs" was a hornpipe. The title of this tune is possibly a corruption of 'Iron League' (although that term is not explained, either), by which title the tune also appears in musician's manuscript collections from the 19th century (e.g. James Winder {1789-1841}). Barry Callaghan (2007) suggests that the famous stage performer, acrobat and clown, Guiseppe Grimaldi (1713-1788), known as 'Iron Legs' for his amazing leaps--the result of well-developed leg muscles--was honoured by the name of this tune. Grimaldi was a pantomimist and dancer, rising to Dancing Master at Sadlers Wells theatre in the 1780's and was the father of Joseph Grimaldi, the 'father of clowning'. The elder Grimaldi began his career performing at fairs in Italy and France, but then moved to England where he became "employed in the ballet at the King's Theatre, Haymarket. In 1758 he began at Drury Lane Theatre an engagement which lasted for thirty years, during which he was seen as clown, harlequin, pantaloon, etc. In the summer months up to 1767, he appeared in the pantomimes at Sadler's Wells, to whose audiences he afterwards introduced his famous son Joseph" (William Davenport Adams, A Dictionary of the Drama, 1904).
