Na Píobairí Uilleann

Chairman, NPU

An Píobaire

3

7 3 18 20110711 18 ~ From the Archive ~ TUNE FROM THE MULHOLLAN COLLECTION J OHN MACPHERSON MULHOLLAN’S A Selection of Irish and Scots Tunes, published in Edinburgh in 1804, includes 127 airs, including song airs and dance tunes. Thirty-three of these are marked as “Irish”, and a further thirty-three are certainly also Irish, including tunes associated with Carolan and with piper Jackson, as well as others. Although the title page specifies that the music is “adapted for the Piano Forte, Violin and German Flute”, quite a few of the accompaniments have the appearance of imitations of regulator accompani- ment, including the tune shown below, a version of the well-known jig “Paidín Ó Raifeartaigh”. This tune was not included by O’Farrell in the collection he published the same year, but he did include a version in Vol. 2 of his Pocket Companion, probably pub- lished in 1806. However while O’Farrell’s version runs to 8 parts, including the variations, Mulhollan’s comprises an astonishing 23 parts. Several of these would be unplayable on the pipes as they go either too high or too low for the chanter, but many of them provide attractive ideas for varying the tune. It is also worth noting that while the tune is included in Aloys Fleischmann’s The Sources of Irish Music c. 1600-1855 (New York 1998), only the basic tune – 16 bars – is given, and none of the variations. The setting below is now available through our SOURCE online archive, or at www.pipers.ie/IMCO, where other versions of the tune may be found. TERRY MOYLAN Paddy O’Raverty, with Variations Mulhollan p. 39

7

18

[Periodical]

2011-07-19T00:00:00

anonymous,guest,friend,member