Annotation:Donal O'Brien

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DONAL O'BRIEN. Irish, Planxty (3/4 time). A Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The tune is attributed to blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), although Donal O'Sullivan, in his definitive work on the bard could find no incontrovertible evidence of its origin, and concludes it is "rather doubtful" Carolan composed it (although he did note "Donal O'Brien" is "structurally similar" to an air by the harper called "Mrs. O'Rourke").

Source for notated version: The tune was collected in 1958 by George Petrie from Francis Keane, of County Clare, with the title "Domhnall Ó Briain". It is contained in the Petrie manuscripts, where Petrie speculates it is a Carolan air [O'Sullivan].

Printed sources: Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes, 1984; No. 112, p. 82. O’Sullivan (Carolan: The Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper), 1958; No. 112, p. 160

Recorded sources:

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