Annotation:Munster Lass (1)

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X:1 T:Munster Lass [1], The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig S:James Goodman (1828─1896) music manuscript collection, S:vol. 3, p. 146. Mid-19th century, County Cork Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D DFA d2e|fef d2B|DFA dcB|AGF E2F| DFA d2e|fef d2e|fef d2B|AGF E2G:| |:A2F FEF|ABc dcB|A2F FEF|AGF E2F| |1 A2F FEF|ABc d2e|fef d2B|AGF E2F:| |2 A2A B2B|c2c d2e|fef d2B|AGF E3||



MUNSTER LASS [1], THE (An Cailin Mumaineac). AKA - "Munster Lasses (2) (The)." Irish, Jig or March (6/8 time). E Flat Major (Galwey): F Major (McGuire, Ryan): D Major (Goodman, Kennedy). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Galwey): AABB (most versions): AABBCCDDEEFF (Kennedy). "The Munster Lass" appears twice in the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection (vol. 3, p. 146; vol. 4, p. 20) of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper Canon biography:James Goodman. Peter Kennedy's version is a rather elaborate six-part tune, the first and fifth strains of which correspond to the tune usually played in two parts. See also the related "Seán-Tiobraid Árann/Seán Tiobrad Árann and "Old Tipperary," and compare with O'Neill's "Munster Bacon."

According to Seán Donnelly[1], the tune "may have been named after a successful racehorseof the 1750's belonging to Sir Edward O'Brien of Dromoland Castle, who built Newmarket-on-Fergus on his estate, naming it after the famous race-course in England."


Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Carl & Jackie Webster (Cardigan, Central Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman].

Printed sources : - Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 55. Galwey (Old Irish Croonauns), 1910; No. 12, p. 4 (as "Munster Lasses"). Kennedy (Jigs & Quicksteps, Trips & Humours), 1997; No. 128, p. 31. McGuire & Keegan (Irish Tunes by the 100, vol. 1), 1975; No. 22, p. 6. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 34. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1838, p. 245 (listed as a march). Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 145. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 84. Tolman (Nelson Music Collection), 1969; p. 2.

Recorded sources : - Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40126, Rodney Miller - "Choose Your Partners: Contra Dance & Square Dance Music of New Hampshire" (1999). Redeye Records, Ken Perlman - "Northern Banjo."

See also listing at :
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear Angus Chisholm's 1930's recording at the Internet Archive [3] (appears as first of "Medley of Inverness Jigs", paired with "Light and Airy (1)").



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  1. Seán Donnelly, "A German Dulcimer Player in Eighteenth-Century Dublin", Dublin Historical Record Vol. 53, No. 1 (Spring, 2000), p. 81.