Annotation:Maid that Dare Not Tell (The)

Find traditional instrumental music



X:1 T:Maid that Dare Not Tell, The M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel S:O'Neill - Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 647 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D G|FAAF GBBG|FAAF GFED|FAAF GFGA|BdAF D2D:|| g|fdeg fdef|gfed B2 Ag|fdeg fdeg|faef d2 dg| fdeg fdef|{a}gfed B2A2|FAFA GFGA|BdAF D2D||



MAID THAT DARE NOT TELL, THE (An aindear nar feud {do} innsin). AKA - "Maid (The)," "Maid that Dare Not Tell It (The)." Irish, Reel (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. As "The Maid that Daren't Tell," the title appears in a list of tunes in the repertoire of Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, brought to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997). The reel and title are also contained in the late 19th/early 20th century music manuscript collection in the possession of biography:Rev. Luke Donnellan (1878-1952), a fiddler and curate from South Armagh. Samuel Bayard identified a Pennsylvania-collected variant called "Chase the Squirrel (1)."


Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Rev. Luke Donnellan music manuscript collection[1] (Oriel, Ulster) [O'Connor].

Printed sources : - Rev. Luke Donnellan, “Oriel Songs and Dances", (Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society), vol. II, No. 2, 1909; No. 19. O'Connor (The Rose in the Gap), 2018; No. 34, p. 39. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 132. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1405, p. 261. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 647, p. 116.

Recorded sources : - Green Linnet ‎GLCD 1227, Oisin Mac Diarmada - "Ar an Bhfidil: On the Fiddle" (2004).




Back to Maid that Dare Not Tell (The)

0.00
(0 votes)




  1. Donnellan researcher Gerry O'Connor came to believe the ms. is not the work of the curate but rather was originally compiled by a unknown but able fiddler over the course of a playing lifetime, probably in the late 19th century. The ms. later came into the possession of Donnellan, who was also a fiddler.