Annotation:Reel Béatrice
X:1 T:Reel Béatrice M:2/4 L:1/16 Q:100 K:Amin A,3B,|:[A2C2]A,C EA,CE|AEEC E2AB|ccAc eAce|ae (3eee aeab|! c'bag fedc|Bdd^c d4|e^def e=dcB|1A3 A, A,3 B,:|2A3 A, A,2 z2||! |:a2 fa bf (3fff|fe^de ae (3eee|e^def e=ddB|cdcB A2 a2|! aafa bf (3fff|fe^de ae (3eee|e^def e=dcB|1A2 z A, A,3 z:|2A2 z4 G>B||! |:cG (3GGG EGce|cG (3GGG EGce|dB (3BBB GBdB|cc'ba gfed|! cG (3GGG EGce|cG (3GGG EGce|dB (3BBB GBdB|1cBcd c2 GB:|2cBcd c2 z2||!
REEL BÉATRICE. AKA - "Beatrice," "Reel p'tit Charles." French-Canadian, Reel or Galope. A Minor {'A' and 'B' parts} & C Major {'C' part} (Begin, Hart & Sandell, Phillips). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'CC (Phillips): AA'BB'CC' (Begin, Hart & Sandell, Songer). “Reel Béatrice” was popularized among Québec musicians by fiddler Joseph Bouchard (1905-1979, to whom the tune is often attributed), who recorded it on a 78 RPM record for Bluebird in 1938 under the title “Reel p'tit Charles." Bouchard developed the tune over the years, recording it later as “Reel Béatrice," the name of the tune that was on the reverse side of his 1938 recording, suggesting that either Bouchard or someone in the recording process got the titles confused. According to Paul M. MacDonald, Bouchard's original musical inspiriation was a polka from the Ballo Liscio dance repertoire called “Oggi Nevica” (which means ‘today it snows’), as played nowadays, for example, by diatonic accordion (melodeon) player, composer and ethnomusicologist Riccardo Tesi (Pistoia, Italy). Lisa Ornstein notes that it is still popular in the Emilia Romagna region of northeastern Italy where the “liscio” (ballroom dancing) repertory includes polkas and mazurkas. Bouchard appears to have picked it up from Jean-Paul Beaulieu (clarinettist of the Laurentian Montagnards) who 'discovered' the tune ans shared it with his band the Laurentian Montagnards.
Bégin (1993) points out that the structure of the tune is that of a reel, although the melody approaches one considered suitable for a Galop. However, it is in the style of the 19th century bal musette, and many of these polkas, waltzes and mazurkas were characteristically in three parts, two in minor keys, with a contrasting trio section in the major. "Reel Béatrice" has transcended the Quebecois regional genre and, in many 'folk-processed' versions, is popular with American contra-dance musicians and even Irish session players (having been popularized by Chicago Irish-American fiddler Liz Carroll).
The tune called “Beatrice” in the Omer Marcoux collection is not “Reel Béatrice” but a tune entitled “Carnival,” although they share somewhat similar structures and chord patterns.
