Annotation:Bend of the Little Horseshoe (The)

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X:2 T:Plygiad y Bedol-fâch M:3/8 L:1/8 Q:"Maestoso" B:Edward Jones – Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards (1784, p. 46) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G V:1 d/c/|BGG|G2 d/c/|BGG|GAB|cc/d/e/d/|ccB|[FA][FA][GB]|[F2A2][GB]| c>ed/c/|BB/>c/A/>B/|GG/>B/A/>c/|(B>A) G/4A/4B/4c/4|dd/e/d/c/|BB/c/B/A/|BGF|G2:| V:2 clef = bass z|G,D,B,,|G,,2z|G,D,B,,|G,2G,|A,,2A,|A,A,G,|F,F,D|D,2z| A,>CB,/A,/|G,G,D,|B,,B,,D,|G,2G,,|B,B,/C/B,/A,/|G,G,/A,/G,/F,/|C,D,D,,|[G,,2G,2]:|



BEND OF THE LITTLE HORSESHOE, THE (Plygiad y Bedol-fâch). Welsh, Air (3/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The tune first appears in Edward Jones' Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards, 1st ed., 1784 (p. 184). The odd title is explained by Phyllis Kinney[1] who speculatively traces the name to a sixteenth century ground that was a favorite with Welsh harpers, "Hunt is Up (The)/Hunt's Up." She writes:

The Welsh versions may have been realted to an English tune based on the "Hunt's Up" ground which was called "Chow Bente", perhaps from a seventeenth-century theatre piece, The Variety, in which one of the characters sings "The great Choe bent/ The little Choe bent...". In Wales there are very few references to "The Hunt's Up" , but several to "Shoe Bend", which in time became translated into "Plygiad y Bedol Fach" (The Bend of the Little Horseshoe).


Additional notes



Printed sources : - Edward Jones (A choice collection of 51 Welsh airs), 1863; p. 7.






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  1. Phyllis Kinney, Welsh Traditional Music, 2016, p. 23.