Annotation:Morgiana in Ireland

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X:1 T:Morgiana in Ireland M:6/8 L:1/8 S:O'Farrell's Pocket Companion 1804-10 Z:Paul Kinder K:G D2 D G2 G|AGA B3|D2 D G2 A|B2 c BGE| D2 D G2 G|AGA Bcd|edc BcA|G2 G BGE:| |:d2 d dcB|e2 f g3|d2 d dcB|e2 f gdB| ded dcB|efe efg|dec BcA|G2 A BGE:| |:GFG B2 d|AGA c2 e|GFG G2 A|B2 c BGE| GFG B2 d|c2 e B2 d|f2 g B2 d|G2 A BGE:||



MORGIANA IN IRELAND. AKA – "Captain Mulligan, "Lavender Girl (1) (The)," "Morgiana (3)." Irish, Set Dance; English, Jig (6/8 time). A Major (O'Neill, Raven, Roche): B Flat Major (Kershaw): G Major (Cahusac, Howe, O'Farrell, Sumner). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Raven, Sumner): AABB (Roche): ABC (Howe): AABBCC (Cahusac, Kershaw, O'Farrell). The Morgiania tunes were thought to have derived from Richard Sheridan's The Forty Thieves: A Grand Melo-Dramatic Romance (1806), music by Michael Kelly. However, "Morgiana" AKA "Morgiana in England" was first published in Joshua Campbell's A Collection of New Reels (Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1786, p. 74), so it would seem that the Morgiana trope was current a generation prior to Sheridan's play. In addition to the copybooks of Kershaw and Gibbons (referenced below) the melody can also be found in the music manuscripts of John Clare (Helpston, Northants, 1820), Rev. Robert Harrison (Brampton, Cumbria, 1820), Miss Best (unknown, c. 1850), Matthew Betham (Towcett, Cumbria, 1815), C.J. Surtees (Northumberland, 1819), Thomas Shoosmith (Arlington, Sussex, early 19th c.), and Edward Russell (Monmouth, Wales, 1812). In print it appears in a small folio issued by Nathaniel Gow in Edinburgh in 1810, and in J. Balls' Gentleman's Amusement book 3 (London, c. 1815, reprinted c. 1830), Firth & Hall's Newly Improved Instuctor for the Clarinet (New York, 1832), Paff's Gentleman's Amusement No. 2 (New York, c. 1812), and Riley's Flute Melodies, vol. 3 (New York, c. 1820). In the latter volume it appears as "Morgiana" with the alternate title "Capt'n Muligan" (Captain Mulligan). Aloys Fleischmann finds the first appearance in print to be in Edmund Lee's Lee's Collection of Country Dances for the present year (Dublin, c. 1795), although Fleischmann believes the volume is "misdated and should be ascribed to c. 1810." The latter date is also when the tune was published in Edinburgh by the Gows.


Additional notes



Printed sources : - William Cahusac (The German Flute Preceptor), c. 1814; p. 19. Nathaniel Gow (Morgiana in Ireland ... and Aldridge's Highland Laddie ... To which are added four other dances), 1810. P.M. Haverty (One Hundred Irish Airs, vol. 2), 1858; No. 191, p. 86. Hime (Second Collection of Country Dances for 1810, No. 6), Dublin, 1810; p. 2. Elias Howe (Second Part of the Musician’s Companion), 1843; p. 58 (as "Morgiana, or The Lavender Girl"). Knowles (The Joseph Kershaw Manuscript), 1993; No. 28. Abraham Mackintosh (Morgiana in Ireland, and Five Other Dance Tunes). O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. 3), c. 1808; p. 7. O'Neill (Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922; No. 86. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 128. Edward Riley (Riley’s Flute Melodies vol. 3), New York, 1820; No. 128, p. 35 (as "Morgiana"). Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 2), 1912; No. 283, p. 34. Sumner (Lincolnshire Collections, vol. 1: The Joshua Gibbons Manuscript), 1997; p. 69 (originally set in the key of 'C' major). Jean White (100 Popular Hornpipes, Reels, Jigs and Country Dances), Boston, 1880; p. 36.



See also listing at :
See sheet music for an early 19th century song, "Lavender Girl", set to the tune; at the Levy Collection [1]
See an anonymous Northumbrian musician's manuscript copy of the tune at FARNE [2] (where the notes say it was composed by Nathaniel Gow).



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