Annotation:Bennett's Favorite

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BENNETT'S FAVORITE. AKA - "Bennett's Reel." AKA and see "Great Eastern Reel (1)," "John Brennan's Reel (1)," "O’Byrne’s Fancy," "Silver Spire (The)." American, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The reel is popular by several titles in several genres and regions. Although it may have Irish origins, the reel has been disseminated as "Bennett's Favorite" in North America (including Cape Breton) through the Ryan's/Cole's publications. The melody appears in the 1904 music manuscript collection of Clinton W. Bisbee (West Sumner, Me.), whose inscription on the front cover indicates the that contents were copied from the Dec. 25, 1864, music manuscript of Frank Richardson, who lived in a town called Mt. Vernon, Me. (later called Canton, Me.). This would seem to indicate the tune was in circulation among New England fiddlers prior to its printing in Boston publisher Elias Howe's Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 12. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 35.

Recorded sources: Canadian Broadcasting Corp. NMAS 1972, Natalie MacMaster – "Fit as a Fiddle" (1993).

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