Annotation:O'Connell’s Welcome to Parliament (1)
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O'CONNELL'S WELCOME {TO PARLIAMENT} [1]. Irish, Jig; American, Jig or March. USA, New England. G Major (most versions): D Major (Bayard). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle, 1981) regards this piece as a major form of the Irish tune "Slan agus Beannacht le Buaidhreamh an tSaoghail" (Farewell to the Troubles of the World), usually played in the Dorian or Mixolydian mode. The jig "Maid on the Green (The)/"Maiden on the Green" is also derived from the same source, he believes. The first strain has some melodic contour similarities with the "Blackthorn Stick (1)"/"Billy Patterson"/"Catholic Boys (3)" family of tunes, that includes "Maid on the Green (The)." Howe (c. 1867) includes the tune in a section of melodies collected from the playing of Jimmy Norton, the “Boss Jig Player,” who was a mid-19th stage fiddler and entertainer, treading the footlights from an early age. Although the melody may have Irish sources, it is particularly associated with old New England fiddling under the "O'Connell's Welcome to Parliament" title, which may have itself been a conflation of the title "O'Connell's Trip to Parliament" and other "O'Connell's Welcome to... (Dublin/Clare etc.) titles.
The tune that usually goes by the “O’Connell” title in modern sessions is "O'Connell's Welcome to Parliament (2)" (AKA - "Tommy Mulhaire's Jig"), a different melody.
Source for notated version: Hiram Horner (fifer from Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, Pa., 1944, 1960; who plays it "as always heard from fifers and bagpipers") [Bayard].
Printed sources: Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 623, p. 548. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 68. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; p. 66. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 32 (appears as “Daniel O’Connell’s Welcome to Parliament). Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 99.
Recorded sources: Jonathan Edwards Memorial Foundation JEMF-105, L.O. Weeks - "New England Traditional Fiddling" (1978).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]