Annotation:Major O'Flashety's Reel

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MAJOR O'FLASHETY'S REEL. AKA - "Major O'Flacherty." English, Jig (6/8 time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. As "Major O'Flashety's Reel" it is one of the "missing tunes" from William Vickers' 1770 Northumbrian dance tune manuscript, unfortunately on pages lost from the manuscript. However, it is probably the "Major O'Flacherty" that was entered (with country dance directions) in the Ashover Manuscript, a c. 1762-1775 music and country dance copybook written by Joshua Harrison and David Wall (the latter, a bassoon player), recording country dances from the community of Ashover, Derbyshire. The title "Major O'Flacherty" probably refers to Major O'Flaherty, a popular Irish character in Richard Cumberland's well-received comic play The West indian staged in London in 1771. The character re-appeared in the 1785 play The Natural Son.

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