Annotation:Glise à Sherbrooke

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X:1 T:Glise à Sherbrooke M:C| L:1/8 K:G B2B2 cB ce|d2dc BA Bd|dc dB A2A2|dc dc BA GA| B2B2 cB ce|de dc B2d2|cd cB AF DF|GB AF G2G2:| |:g2gf ef ge|d2dc BG Bd|c2 cB AF Ac|de dc BG Bd| ga gf ef ge|d2 dc BG Bd|cd cB A2F2|GB AF G4:||

GLISE DE/A SHERBROOKE, THE. AKA - "Reel de Sherbrooke (1), "Sherbrooke Slide." AKA and see "Big Ship (The)," "Blue Bell Polka (2)," "Bluebell Reel," "Monandnock Reel," "Reel de Tadoussac," "Quadrille de chez nous (1)," "Quadrille national 2ème partie," "Reel de chez nous." French Canadian (originally), American, England; Reel. USA; New England, Northwest. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (most versions): AA'BB' (Miskoe & Paul). "Glise à Sherbrooke" is the tune played for the dance La Grande Chaine, actually descriptive of a prominent dance figure that is known in the United States as 'grand-right-and-left'. Glise, as fiddler Lisa Ornstein points out, is not a French language word, but is similar and may have derived from glisse, meaning to slide or glide. The 'Glise' title can be found no earlier that 1949, when it appeared with the tune in New Hampshire dance caller and musician Ralph Page's periodical Northern Junket (vol. 1, No. 4), with the alternate title "Sherbrooke Slide." It is perhaps due to Page's influence that the tune and title were absorbed into New England contra dance repertory, where it became part of the core repertoire of the latter 20th century. The 'Glise' title is predated by other names: fiddler Jospeh Allard recorded the melody in 1928 under the title “Quadrille de chez nous (1)” (Our House/Home Quadrille) {Victor 263514}, and again in 1945 as “Reel de Tadoussac” (Victor Bluebird 55-5225). Fiddler Isidore Soucy also recorded his version of the tune in 1928, as "Quadrille national 2ème partie," while another variant can be found as "Chasseurs (Les)" (The Hunters) in J.A. Boucher's printed collection Le Répertoire du Violoneux (1931).

Researcher Jean Duval points to all these tune variants as derivative of the song "Home Sweet Home (1)," composed by Sir Henry Bishop for the opera The Maid of Clari in 1823^[1].

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - transplanted French-Canadian fiddler Omer Marcoux {1898-1982} (Concord, N.H.) who learned the tune when young in Quebec [Miskoe & Paul]; accordion player Dennis Rothrock (Portland, Oregon) [Songer]; Laurie Andres [Silberberg].

Printed sources : - Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), vol. 2, 1954; p. 25 (appears as "The Big Ship"). Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertory), 1983; No. 158. Miskoe & Paul (The Fiddle Tunes of Omer Marcoux), 1994; p. 33 (appears as "Le Reel de Sherbrooke"). Page (Northern Junket, vol. 1, No. 4), 1949; p. 18. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 145. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 51. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 85. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 72.

Recorded sources : - Alcazar Dance Series FR 204, "New England Chestnuts 2" (1981). Folkways FW8826, Per's Four--"Jigs and Reels: Eastern Square Dance Music."

See also listing at :
Hear Joseph Allard's 1928 recording at the Virtual Gramophone [1] (as "Quadrille de chez-nous")
Hear Ralph Page's New Hampshire Orchestra's 1954 recording at the Internet Archive [2]

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↑ Jean Duval, La Musique de Isidore Soucy 1988-1962, 2017, p. 203.

[1] Jean Duval, La Musique de Isidore Soucy 1988-1962, 2017, p. 203.

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