Annotation:Mr. Waller

Back to 

 MR. WALLER. Irish, Planxty (3/4 time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Composed by Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1734). O’Sullivan (1958) believes the subject of O’Carolan’s composition may be Robert Waller of Rockwood, Parish of Athleague, County Roscommon, of an English family originally from Herfordshire who settled in the time of Charles I. Robert was born in 1701 and married a Miss Jane Ormsby (who is presumably the subject of “Mrs. Waller”), and was High Sheriff of the County in 1747. O’Sullivan believes another, less likely candidate is a member of the Waller family of County Tipperary (although originally from Cambridgeshire), but who owned considerable acreage in County Mayo, and that it is possible O’Carolan had contact with them.  Source for notated version: John Lee’s A Favourite Collection of the so much admired old Irish Tunes, the original and genuine compositions of Carolan, the celebrated Irish Bard (Dublin, 1780) [O’Sullivan].  Printed sources: Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes, 1984; No. 167, pp. 111-112. O'Sullivan (Carolan: The Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper), 1958; No. 167.  Recorded sources:

Back to