Annotation:Slieve Gallen (1)
X:1 T:Slieve Gallen [1] M:3/8 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Rather slow and very Plaintive" B:Bunting – Ancient Music of Ireland (1840, p. 21) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Gmin (D^F)|.G4 (G/A/B3) (A3B)|G4 (G/A/B3)|(FD3) T(C3B,) B,4|B,4 (DCB,C) D2z2| (.B2.c2.d2.e2) T(c3B)|(.A2.B2.c2.d2) T(B3A)|(.G2.A2.B2.c2) T(A3B)|G2 (G3A) G2z2| (.B2.c2.d2.e2) d2(cB)|(.A2.B2.c2.d2) .c2(BA)|(.G2.A2.B2.c2) (A3G)|(G3F) D4 .G2(GA)| (.B2.A2.G2.F2) {=E}(F2D2)|.C2(B,A,) (B,C).D2 (G,A,)(B,C)|(D2G)z (^F2A)z (G2B)z|(A3G) (G2G).A2| B2z2 z4 (ecdB)|~A2z2 z4 (dBcA)|G2z2 z4 (cA)(BG)|T(A3^F) D4-D (3=FGA| (.B2.A2.G2.F2.D2.C2)|.C2B,A, (B,/C/)(D/B,/) .G2(B,/C/)|(D2G2) (^FGA)z (GAB)z|T(A3G) G4-!fermata!G2||
SLIABH GALLEN/GAILLEAN [1]. AKA - "Slieve Gallen," "Sliab Na n-Gallen." Irish, Air (3/4 time). Ireland, County Derry. G Minor (O'Neill, Roche): B Minor (O'Sullivan/Bunting). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill, Roche): ABB (O'Sullivan/Bunting). Edward Bunting (1840) states that the melody is "a Ballinascreen air, arranged by (the Irish harper Cornelius) Lyons in 1700," and O'Sullivan (1983) adds that Ballinascreen is in County Derry as is the mountain Slieve Gallen. The index to the Irish collector Edward Bunting's 1840 collection records the tune was noted in 1792 "from Hugh Higgins (Co. Roscommon), died in 1796. Very ancient." Higgins (1737-c, 1809) was originally from County Mayo and like many harpers was blind from childhood, although fortunately and differently that most, his family was wealthy and could afford to sponsor his aptitude for music. Arthur O’Neill (1734-1818), a blind harper who played at the Belfast Harp Festival and who was one of the last of the old itinerant harpers, mentions Higgins in his memoirs. As a young man he toured Ireland several times and related meeting other famous harpers:
I knew and often met a Hugh Higgins, and in all his peregrinations he supported the character of an Irish gentleman-harper. I will not set him down with the tol-lols (i.e. mediocre players) by any means. He was uncommonly genteel in his manners, and as to his dress I am informed that he spared no expense in purchasing clothes. But as a blind man is no judge of colours he was obligated to take his guide’s word for his fancy. He travelled in such a manner as does and will do credit to an Irish harper. Hugh was born in a place called Tirawley in the County of Mayo of very decent parents. His mother’s name was Burk, but losing the sight at an early period they had the good sense to put him to music, and they preferred the harp to the bagpipes, on which my dear deceased friend made such a proficiency as to rank him much, and very much, above the description of performers called in the last of my observations, that is, tol-lol.
Heymann (1992) repeats the story of Higgin’s efforts to rescue a friend from an Omagh jail. It seems his friend Owen Keenan, like Higgins, was a blind harper who fell in love with the French governess of a family with whom he often stayed for lengths of time. Smitten, the harper managed to raise a ladder outside her window with the intent of eloping with her. He climbed the nineteen feet, climbed through the window and made his way to the bed, only to find that he had entered the chamber not of his beloved, but of an old woman. She raised the alarm and Keenan was packed off to jail. Higgins went to visit Keenan in jail and, perhaps due to his fine clothes and gentrified airs, was admitted by the jailer’s wife since the jailer himself was away. She was a woman who apparently liked a good time, and in no time the two harpers were entertaining wildly, and drink had been procured and liberally consumed. When the wife became grandly inebriated the musical pair managed to extricate the key from her pocket and Keenan was away with the help of Higgins’ guide-boy. Rather than make good his escape, however, Keenan returned to the residence of his love for another attempt at elopement—with similar results. He was again apprehended and remanded to jail. When he was brought before the judge, however, Keenan was acquitted, for the magistrate could not fathom how a blind man could manage the ladder in the first place! Keenan eventually did marry his governess and the pair emigrated to America, where she regrettably proved unfaithful.