Annotation:Mabel Kelly

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MABLE/MABEL KELLY (Maible Ni Cheallaigh). Irish, Air or Planxty (3/4 time). D Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Thought to have been one of the compositions of blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), it is one of seven airs he composed for people named Kelly. It was recorded by the Belfast Northern Star of July 15, 1792, as having been played by one of ten Irish harp masters at the last great convocation of ancient Irish harpers, the Belfast Harp Festival, held that week. A song as well as an air, it was probably composed in honor of the only daughter and heiress of Laughlin Kelly of Lismoyle, County Roscommon, according to Donal O'Sullivan (1958). She died unmarried in 1745. O'Sullivan explains that Lismoyle is in the parish of Cam and barony of Athlone, close to the Lough Funshinagh, which is west of Lough Ree.

Source for notated version: John and William Neale's "A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes proper for the Violin, German Flute or Hautboy" (Dublin, c. 1726) [O'Sullivan].

Printed sources: Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes, 1984; No. 73, p. 63. John & William Neal (A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes), 1724; p. 14. O'Sullivan (Carolan: The Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper), 1958; No. 73, p. 141.

Recorded sources: Maggie's Music MM107, "Music in the Great Hall" (1992). RCA 5798-2-RC, "James Galway and the Chieftains in Ireland" (1986). Shanachie 79013, Derek Bell - "Carolan's Receipt" (1987).