User:WikiSysop/Test page: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:51, 20 March 2020

The name Ennistymon is derived from the Irish Inis Díomáin, or (St.) Diomán's Island, and is locally pronounced 'Ennis-sty-mun'. The tune is one of a large tune family whose most famous member is perhaps "Larry Grogan." Seán Keane was of the opinion it was a Clare tune, and indeed, Ennistymon is a town in North Clare. In the liner notes for the album "Clare Concertinas: Bernard O'Sullivan and Tommy McMahon," Muiris Ó Rochain writes that County Sligo/New York fiddler Michael Coleman adapted the tune "Coppers and Brass (2)" by adding a third part, the whole of which he renamed "The Humours of Ennistymon." Ó Rochain thinks this was in honor of Martin Clancy, a native of Ennistymon. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin (1999) believes that travelling piper Johnny Doran popularized the tune in Clare in the 1930's and 1940's, playing it as "Coppers and Brass," and that it is thought in Clare that Doran composed the third part of the tune. Micho Russell (1915-1944), tin-whistle player and a storehouse of folk tales and traditional lore, had his own fanciful thoughts and associations about the tune, which he would relate by way of introduction of the music. "There's a jig called 'The Humours of Ennistymon' and Captain O'Neill in Chicago, the music collector, had only two parts got in his collection. So he met a man from Ennistymon and the man from Ennistymon had the third part. So I think that was one of the reasons that it was called 'The Humours of Ennistymon'" (Piggott, Blooming Meadows, 1998). The tune appears in O'Neill's Music of Ireland (1903) as the two-part "Hartigan's Fancy." In fact, both tune and title appear older than O'Neill and the above-referenced 20th century musicians, since "Humours of Ennistymon" appears in the James Goodman manuscripts (volume III, 152), collected by James Goodman from the playing Munster musicians in the mid-1800's, predating all the above references. James Aird (c. 1790) published a variant as "Lasses of Melross (The)." Breathnach remarks that the first printed version was by John Walsh before 1736 in Country Dances Book the Second under the title "Larry Grogan," named for the County Wexford gentleman piper of the early-mid 1700's (there are two "Grogan" variants, however, "Ennistymon" is closer to the "Larry Grogan (3)" version). See also note for "Groom."

...more at: Humors of Ennistymon - full Score(s) and Annotations

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Tune of the week
-|f_tune_of_the_week=Frieze_Breeches_(1)
+|f_tune_of_the_week=Humors_of_Ennistymon_(1)_(The)
-|f_mp3_track=Cunla The Frieze Breeches.mp3
+|f_mp3_track=Hartigan's Fancy.mp3
-|f_artwork=FC.jpg
+|f_artwork=Clare Concertinas.jpg
-|f_aw_px=190
+|f_aw_px=150
 |f_player_px=330
-|f_tune_name=The Frieze Breeches
+|f_tune_name=Humors of Ennistymon
-|f_played=ISHNA
+|f_played=Trad Tune Collection
-|f_notes=The FC Logo
+|f_notes=Clare Concertinas
 |f_source=Soundcloud
 |f_section=abc
-|f_article='''THE FRIEZE BREECHES'''
+|f_article=The name Ennistymon is derived from the Irish ''Inis Díomáin'', or (St.) Diomán's Island, and is locally pronounced 'Ennis-sty-mun'. The tune is one of a large tune family whose most famous member is perhaps "Larry Grogan." Seán Keane was of the opinion it was a Clare tune, and indeed, Ennistymon is a town in North Clare. In the liner notes for the album "Clare Concertinas: Bernard O'Sullivan and Tommy McMahon," Muiris Ó Rochain writes that County Sligo/New York fiddler Michael Coleman adapted the tune "[[Coppers and Brass (2)]]" by adding a third part, the whole of which he renamed "The Humours of Ennistymon." Ó Rochain thinks this was in honor of Martin Clancy, a native of Ennistymon. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin (1999) believes that travelling piper Johnny Doran popularized the tune in Clare in the 1930's and 1940's, playing it as "Coppers and Brass," and that it is thought in Clare that Doran composed the third part of the tune. Micho Russell (1915-1944), tin-whistle player and a storehouse of folk tales and traditional lore, had his own fanciful thoughts and associations about the tune, which he would relate by way of introduction of the music. "There's a jig called 'The Humours of Ennistymon' and Captain O'Neill in Chicago, the music collector, had only two parts got in his collection. So he met a man from Ennistymon and the man from Ennistymon had the third part. So I think that was one of the reasons that it was called 'The Humours of Ennistymon'" (Piggott, '''Blooming Meadows''', 1998). The tune appears in O'Neill's '''Music of Ireland''' (1903) as the two-part "[[Hartigan's Fancy]]." In fact, both tune and title appear older than O'Neill and the above-referenced 20th century musicians, since "Humours of Ennistymon" appears in the James Goodman manuscripts (volume III, 152), collected by James Goodman from the playing Munster musicians in the mid-1800's, predating all the above references. James Aird (c. 1790) published a variant as "[[Lasses of Melross (The)]]." Breathnach remarks that the first printed version was by John Walsh before 1736 in '''Country Dances Book the Second''' under the title "[[Larry Grogan]]," named for the County Wexford gentleman piper of the early-mid 1700's (there are two "Grogan" variants, however, "Ennistymon" is closer to the "[[Larry Grogan (3)]]" version). See also note for "[[Groom]]."
-The title refers to clothing made from the material, once common in Ireland. The following passage, from a pamphlet by fiddler William Simpson, from Elgin, Scotland, entitled '''A Spring on the Fiddle''' (1915), describes frieze clothing:
-''In 1863 I went to Ireland, Co. Galloway, and on to Tipperary, where I''<br />''stayed for about six years, getting out of touch with all players of my''<br />''former acquaintance, meeting occasionally some very fine jig players''<br />''and dancers who could give a very interesting exhibition. The dress of''<br />''these men were kneebreeches, frieze coats of the dresscoat style,''<br />''green stockings, red vest, a soft felt hat, and a short stick  a "shillelagh."''
-The title is often, however, rendered as "The Friar's Britches" due to the similarity of "Frieze" (pronounced frys) and "Friars" when spoken (Finbar Boyle, tongue in cheek, mentions that "Friar's Britches" is also known as "The Vicar's Knickers!"). The melody was known in the Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border as "Gallagher's" (see below) and accordion player Johnny O'Leary identified the title "Frieze Breeches" as coming from "the Galway crowd." North Clare tin whistle player Micho Russell remembered that "long ago" the tune was only in two parts and was known as "La San Sean, ba chraite an mhaidin i'," and that it was later used for the song "Cunla" (popularized in the 1970's by the band Planxty ):
-''Who comes there tickling the toes of me?''<br />''There is nobody here but Cunla.''
-Breathnach (1963) prints these words:
-''"Cé hé sin thiós ag briseadh na gclaiocha?" ''<br />''"Mise féin" a deir Connla.''<br />''"Chonnla chroí ná teara níos goire dhom"''<br />''"Mhaisce, tiocfad", a deir Connla.''
-Translated by Paul de Grae:
-''"Who is that down there breaking the fences? ''<br />''"Myself says Connla.'''<br />''"Connla dear don't come any nearer to me"''<br />''"Wisha, I will," says Connla.''
-O'Neill ('''Irish Folk Music''', p. 97) states this jig was "in some form known all throughout Munster. A strain remembered by from my mother's singing of it was added to Delaney's version, making a total of six in our printed setting. A ridiculous, although typical folk song, called '[[I Buried My Wife and Danced on Top of Her]]' used to be sung to this air, which bears a close resemblance to our version of '[[O'Gallagher's Frolics]]'." Russell said "Frieze Britches" was a very popular tune around Enlistment, County Clare, and related that his father had been to the fair in that city and met with one Paddy Cearnuf, who lilted the melody and, obviously enamored, called it "the first tune that was ever played in heaven" (Russell, 1989). Breathnach (1963) maintains Joyce's third part does not belong to this jig.
-An interesting story, possibly even true, of how this tune entered the Sliabh Luachra region of Ireland's tune repertoire was told by piper Tim Britton, confirmed by Paddy O'Brien. It seems that the renowned regional fiddler Padraig O'Keeffe played the melody that he had learned, as he did many of his tunes, from an uncle named Cal Callaghan. Callaghan, the story goes, lived for several decades in a Scottish settlement in southern Ohio and learned many tunes there, some of which he taught to his nephew Padraig on his return to Ireland. O'Keeffe called the tune "Gallagher's" and played it in seven parts. The story is a bit of a stretch, considering the age and popularity of "The Frieze Breeches/Friar's Britches" in Ireland.
 }}