Annotation:Carolan's Cup

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 CAROLAN'S CUP. Irish, Air (6/8 time). B Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune is often attributed to blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), although it is a version, somewhat altered of an older song. Donal O'Sullivan (1858), in his definitive work on the bard says that O'Carolan may well have played it and perhaps altered it to his purpose, but that the piece is an altered version of a folk tune well-known in Carolan's time called "Ar bhruach na carraige báine" (On the Brink of the White Rocks). O'Carolan was known to be rather fond of spirits betimes, and this tune has been placed among his bacchanalian compositions. Source for notated version: O'Farrell [O'Sullivan]. Printed sources: Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes, 1984; No. 185, p. 128. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. IV), c. 1810; p. 134. O'Sullivan (Carolan: The Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper), 1958; No. 185, p. Recorded sources:

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