Brilliancy

 BRILLIANCY. AKA- "Brilliance," "Brilliancy Medley." AKA and see "Liverpool Hornpipe [1]," "Louisville Hornpipe." See also related tunes "Drunken Billy Goat," "Miller's Reel," "Wake Up Susan." Old-Time, Texas Style. USA, west Texas. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Christeson, Phillips/1994): AABBCC (Phillips/1995): AABBCCDDEE (Brody). John Hartford and others note that the first strain of "Passaic Hornpipe" is the same as this tune, as is "Trafalger Hornpipe" (the latter is cognate with the 'A' and 'C' parts of "Brilliancy"). Stacy Phillips remarks that the tune is a combination of "Passaic," "Trafalgar" and "Dew Drop" (the 'B' part) hornpipes. See also the related tune "Butterfly Hornpipe." There is some thought that "Brilliancy" was Eck Robertson's name for the set of variations he developed for "Drunken Billy Goat," although musicologist Charles Wolfe (1997) states the tune is an amalgam of several fiddle tunes including "Drunken Billygoat" in combination with "Wake Up Susan," "Old Billy Wilson" and "Bill Cheatum." The piece was one of Robertson's best known pieces and sold over 2,600 copies when it was released in September, 1930 (Wolfe, 1997). Harry Smith (Folkways FA2952, 1952) writes: "'Eck' Robertson was one of the pioneer rural recording artists, with unaccompanied solos issued by Victor thirty years ago. His playing in the present recording is quite archaic in its studied and exaltant formality, but the medley of traditional tunes is more suited to the popular dance steps of the 1920's than for the square dance." Sources for notated versions: Red Williams [Christeson]; Eck Robertson (West Texas) [Brody]; Howard Forrester [Phillips]. Printed sources: R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 2), 1984; p. 5. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pp. 57-58. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; p. 37. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; p. 183. Recorded sources: County 507, Eck Robertson- "Old-Time Fiddle Classics." Folkways FA2952, Eck Robertson (1922) - "American Folk Music, vol. 2." Rounder 0046, Mark O'Conner- "National Junior Fiddle Champion." Sonyatone 201, Eck Robertson- "Master Fiddler." Victor 40298A (78 RPM), Eck Robertson & Family {1929. 2nd fiddle by Dr. J.B. Cranfill}. X:1 T:Brilliancy Medley B:Dave Swarbrick Takes a Bow Z:Nigel Gatherer M:4/4 L:1/8 K:A g2 | aece aece  | aecA BA F2 | E3  B cBcA | B2 e2 e2 eg | aece  aece  | aecA BA F2 | E2 EF ABcA | B2 A2 A2 :| E2 | A2 cA G2 BG | FEFG AGFE | D2 FD C2 EC | B,G,B,C B,DCB,| A,CEF A2 cA | BABc dBAG | Bcde fgaf | edcB  A2:|]

X:2 T:Brilliancy Medley D:Eck Robertson, Master Fiddler Z:Nigel Gatherer M:4/4 L:1/8 K:A (3efg | a2 ga f2 eg | aecA BA F2 | A,2 C2 DA,CA, | B,2 E2 G2 eg| aecA  Bcde  | aecA BA F2 | A,CEG  A2 f2  | ecBG  A2 :| (3EFG | AB c2 GABG  | FEFG AGFE  | D2  FD C2 EC  | B,A,B,C DCB,C | A,CEF A2 cA | BABc d2 cB | ABce  fgaf   | edcB    A2   :||

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