Annotation:Reaper of Glanree
X: 1 T:Reaper Of Glenree, The T:Reaper Of Glanree, The R:setdance M:4/4 L:1/8 Q:1/4=150 K:Emin |:B|~E3F GFGA|Beed eBcA|(3BcB (3AGF GEFD|GEFG B2 B2| |~E3F GFGA|Bega fdeB|(3cdc (3BAG ABGE|GE (3GFE E3:| B|~e3f (3gfe (3fed|efdB (3cdc BG|~E3F GFGA|Bega ~b3a| b2(3bag ab (3gfe|f2 (3fgf edeB|(3cdc BA BGAF|GBGF E2EF| ~G3 A GFEF| DFEG B2 ef|ga (3gfe fg (3fed|efdB e2 ef| ~g3a gfeg|fedf ~B3 c|de (3BAG ABEG| AGFG (3EFE DF| ~G3 A GFD2|EGBd e2 de|(3BcB (3AGF GEFD|GE (3GFE E3||
REAPER OF GLANREE. Irish, Set Dance (whole time). The title (as “Reaper of Dunree”) appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997). While mostly traditional in his repertoire, Goodman regularly played several novelty or ‘popular’ tunes. It is not known whether Bulmer & Sharpley's tune is the same as the one Goodman played, and there may have been other tunes by this name. A notice with the set dance in thesession.com attributes the tune to North Belfast violinist, dancer, teacher and choreographer Patricia Mulholland [1] (1915-1992).
"The Reaper of Glanree" is the name of an Irish nationalist poem by John Keegan Casey, published in 1866:
We sat around the fireside--'twas in the Christmas time--
And lightl passed the hours away with story, song and rhyme;
But of the wild old legends blind Fergus told to me
None set my young heart bounding like the Reaper of Glanree.
'Tis sixty-four long summers since the days of '98--
Black days of desolation, of murder and of hate--
The truest and the bravest, then in all the counterie,
Was dashing Gerald Murtagh, the Reaper of Glanree.
As brown as autumn chesnuts his ranting, roving eye,
His form a mountain ash tree, so towering, strong and high;
An arm of tempered iron, a voice of jovial glee,
And a soul as clear as diamond, had the Reaper of Glanree.
Bright morning on the moorland and hillside soft and green,
But at his daily labour young Gerald is not seen;
His hook lies on the hurdle, 'just wheter it ought to be,
When pikes cut down the harvest,' said the Reaper of Glanree.
etc.
