Annotation:More of Cloyne

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MORE OF CLOYNE (Mór Chluana). Irish, Air (4/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. Joyce's source said that More was the guardian fairy of Cloyne in Cork.

We read in Irish history of several remarkable women named Mor. The most celebrated of all was Mór Mumhan, the daughter of Aedh Bennain (Hugh Bannan, king of west Munster—died A.D. 614), about whom there is a curious story in the book of Leinster; in which it is related that she was carried off by the fairies in her youth; and that ultimately she became the wife of Cathal Mac Finguine, king of Cashel. Afterwards her sister was similarly abducted; and was discovered by Mór—who knew her by her singing—somewhere in the district where Cloyne is situated. Mór Mumhan (or Mór of Munster) is celebrated in legend among the peasantry to this day, for her beauty and her adventures; and perhaps it may not be rash to conjecture that she was the same as Mór of Cloyne, who gave name to this air. ... [Joyce, 1873]

Albert Percival Graves wrote a famous poem, "Mor of Cloyne," whom he calls a "Munster princess" and who sings a magical song. Early in the 20th century Osborn Bergin, a legendary Irish scholar, wrote his "An t-Amhran Dochas" to More of Cloyne. The melody "Fairies' Hornpipe (The)," popularized by Seamus Ennis, is thought to have derived from this tune.

Source for notated version: Lewis O'Brien of Coolfree, County Limerick, 1852 [Joyce].

Printed sources: Joyce (Ancient Irish Music), 1890; No. 47, p. 48.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]