Annotation:Woman of the House (1)

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X:1 T:Bana Thee Alauragum T:Bean an Tigh ar Lár agam T:Woman of the House [1] M:C L:1/8 R:Reel B:Stephen Grier music manuscript collection (Book 2, c. 1883, No. 236, p. 50) B: http://grier.itma.ie/book-two#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=49&z=-101.2125%2C301.2782%2C3727.7609%2C1510.6131 N:Stephen Grier (c. 1824-1894) was a piper and fiddler from N:Newpark, Bohey, Gortletteragh, south Co. Leitrim. Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D DEFD GFED|D2 dB ABAF|DEFD GFGA |BE ED/E/ BE E2| DEFD GFED|D2 dB ABAF|DEFD GFED|AD DE/D/ AD D2|| c2 cA B2 BG|A2 AB AGFE|D2 Bd cBAG|BE ED/E/ BE E2| c2 cA B2 BG|ABAB AGFE|DEFD GFED|AD DE/D/ AD D2| c2 cA B2 BG|A2 AB AGFE|D2 Bd cBAG|BE ED/E/ BE E2| dcBd cBAc|BAGB AGFE|DEFD GFED|AD DE/D/ AD D2||


WOMAN OF THE HOUSE [1], THE ("Bean an Tigh ar Lár agam," “Bean a Tig air Lár” or “Bean an Tighe/Ti ar Lár”). AKA - "Lady of the House," "Mistress of the House," "Woman of the House in a Closed Coffin." AKA and see "Cows are a-Milking." Irish, Reel (whole or cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B (O'Neill/1850): ABB’ (Moylan): AABB (most versions). The 'woman of the house' refers to the hostess of a house party. One of the earliest versions of the reel, set in the key of ‘D’ Major, is in the c. 1883 music manuscript collection of Gortletteragh, County Leitrim, fiddler Stephen Grier, who entered it as “Bana Thee Arlar Agam,” a phonetic spelling of the correct Irish title “Bean an Tigh ar Lár Agam,” notes researcher Conor Ward. The great Irish music compiler Francis O’Neill learned this tune from County Mayo piper James O’Brien, who visited Chicago (where O’Neill worked in the police department) in 1876. O’Neill describes him as “a neat, tasty Irish piper of the Connacht school of close players, and though his Union pipes were small, they were sweet and musical...One of his peculiarities—and an unpleasant one, occasionally—was a habit of stopping the music in order to indulge in conversation. He could not be induced to play a tune in full, when under the influence of stimulants, as his loquacity was uncontrollable, and he never hesitated under such conditions to express a passing sentiment. Amiable and harmless at all times, he died at a comparatively early age in Chicago, a victim to conviviality, his only weakness.” Paul de Grae writes [1] that O'Neill's version "may be regarded as a transitional stage in the evolution of this tune from Joyce's older setting [c.f. "Cows are a-Milking"] to the way it is generally played nowadays: the first parts are almost the same, but there is considerable divergence in the second. The 'older' and 'newer' versions--if that is indeed what they are--can be compared in [Breathnach's] Ceol Rince na hÉirreann vol. 1, the former being No, 71 and the latter No. 86 (as "Bean an Tí ar Lár", a title more associated with another, unrelated reel)." De Grae also notes that “O'Keeffe's Woman of the House” is quite like O'Neill's version. See also the variants “Mistress of the House (The)” (Woman of the House (2)) and “O'Keeffe's Woman of the House”.

Donegal fiddlers play a the tune called "Woman of the House" (for which see “Bean an Ti ar Lár (1)” which is musically unrelated to "Woman of the House (1)." The first part of the Donegal tune corresponds to that of "Bummer's Reel (1)."

Charlie Piggott, in his book Blooming Meadows (1998) written with Fintan Vallely, relates the story of a Galway session attended by, among others, the great Galway button accordion player Joe Cooley and a somewhat irascible old fiddler named Paddy Meenahan. A fiddle player was having some difficulty bringing out the well-known “Woman of the House” and Meenahan was losing patience, finally saying words to the effect that the fiddler’s tune wasn’t “Woman of the House,” for Paddy well knew how it should be played. Cooley expertly soothed the tense situation by chiming in that surely there could be two women in that house!

The tune was recorded in New York by many of the great Irish recording artists of the 78 RPM era, including melodeon player Peter J. Conlon (1923), County Leitrim flute player John McKenna (1880-1947) who recorded it in 1924 under the title “Lady of the House”, south Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman (1927), fiddler Packie Dolan (1928), and Hugh Gillespie (1929). It is one of the most frequently recorded reels in the history of Irish music sound recordings.


Additional notes



Printed sources : - Beisswenger (Irish Fiddle Music from Counties Cork and Kerry), 2012; p. 38. Breathnach (Ceol Rince na hÉireann vol. I), 1963; No. 86, p. 38. Cranitch (Irish Fiddle Book), 1996; p. 88. Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; p. 99. Lyth (Bowing Styles in Irish Fiddle Playing, vol. 1), 1981; 23. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music vol. 1), 1977; No. 4 (includes a 'B' part variation). Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 2nd Edition, 2006; p. 111 (two versions). Moylan (Johnny O’Leary of Sliabh Luachra), 1994; No. 209, p. 120. O’Malley (Luke O’Malley’s Collection of Irish Music, vol. 1), 1976; No. 62, p. 31. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 114. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1300, p. 244. O’Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 565, p. 104. The Leo Rowsome Collection of Irish Music (appears as "The Morning Dew", a title employed by Rowsome's father for the tune). Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 171 (mistakenly listed as a Canadian tune). Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995s. 23.

Recorded sources : - Copley 9-195 (78 RPM), Paddy Cronin & Frank Neylon. Decca 12225 (78 RPM), Hugh Gillespie (1939). Decca W5246 (78 RPM), Leo Rowsome (1948. 2nd tune in set with "Boy in the Boat (1) (The)"--Rowsome called "Woman of the House" by the title "Morning Dew"). Gennett 5549 (78 RPM), John McKenna (1924, as “Lady of the House”). Globestyle Irish CDORBD 085, Denis Murphy - “The Rushy Mountain” (1994. A reissue CD of Topic recordings from Sliabh Luachra musicians). Gennett Records (78 RPM), John McKenna (1924. Appears as “Lady of the House”). IRC Records, Michael Coleman - “The Musical Glory of Old Sligo” (1967). Topic 12T309, Pádraig O’Keeffe, Denis Murphy & Julia Clifford - “Kerry Fiddles” (1977). RTE CD174, “The Sliabh Luachra Fiddle Master Pádraig O’Keeffe” (1995. Originally recorded 1948-49). Victor V-29005 (78 RPM), Dolan's Melody Boys (1928). Wild Asparagus WA004, Wild Asparagus - "The Call of the Wild" (1993).

See also listing at :
Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [3]
Hear flute player John McKenna's 78 RPM version at the Comhaltas Archive [4]
Hear fiddler and singer Packie Dolan's (1904-1932) 1928 recording at Juneberry 78's [5]
Packie Dolan's recording at the Victor Library [6]
Hear Paddy Cronin and Frank Neylon’s 78 RPM Copley Records recording at the Internet Archive [7]

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  1. ↑ Paul de Grae, Sources of Tunes in the O'Neill Collections, 2017 (unpublished)
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